Cliffsend - Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate, Kent.
Posted by: 
MeerRescue
N 51° 19.743 E 001° 22.359
31U E 386622 N 5687674
The Cliffsend village sign at Pegwell Bay, Ramsgate, Kent.
Waymark Code: WMEMGT
Location: South East England, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/14/2012
Views: 6
The new Cliffsend Village sign, sited on Hugin Green opposite the historic
Viking Ship, was unveiled on 26th May 2012 by the Mayor of Ramsgate, Councillor
David Green after 4 years of planning and fundraising by Cliffsend Parish
Council to replace its stolen predecessor.
The village sign, crowned by the Kent Shield and above the CLIFFSEND banner
depicts;
Hugin Viking Ship:
The Hugin is a 15 ton replica of the 'Gokstad', a Viking ship excavated in 1880
in Sandefjord, Norway. It was built in Denmark and sailed to England in 1949 in
recognition of the British involvement in ridding Scandinavia of the Nazi
menace, and to celebrate the 1500th anniversary of the arrival in England of
Hengist and his brother Horsa, the 'first' Anglo-Saxons who arrived in AD 449.
The crew of 53 Danes came across the old way, too, taking turns at the long
oars, or slept roughly, lying on the deck beneath the gunwales. The only
professional seaman aboard, Peter Jensen used the only instrument carried, a
sextant, to bring them safely across the treacherous North Sea to the Thanet
coastline, and safe landing on 28th July at Main Bay, Broadstairs, soon to be
re-named Viking Bay.
Under the banner are;
St Mary's Church:
This church was built in 1871 as a Methodist Chapel and was used up until the
1940's. After the War it was no longer used and so it was bought by the Church
of England in 1956 and in the 1980's it was altered to give a porch and vestry
at the back.
The first marriage to take place at St. Mary's took place in 1985, as before
this marriages could only be solemnised with permission from the Archbishop of
Canterbury.
St Augustine's Cross:
St Augustine's Cross is a carved Celtic style cross carved by J Roddis of
Birmingham. It was erected by Granville George Leveson-Gower, 2nd Earl of
Granville and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, in 1884. The cross was erected to
commemorate the landing of St Augustine near the site of the cross in AD597
SR.N4 Hovercraft:
The SR.N4 was a large passenger and vehicle carrying hovercraft based here at
Pegwell Bay. Hoverlloyd operated 4 SR.N4 hovercraft named "Sue", "Swift", "Sir
Christopher" and "The Prince of Wales". Hoverlloyd had commenced operations from
Ramsgate Harbour to Calais Harbour on 6 April 1966 using small, passenger only
SR.N6 hovercraft. When the much larger SR.N4 craft, capable of carrying 30
vehicles and 254 passengers, were delivered in 1969, Hoverlloyd moved operations
to a purpose built ‘hoverport’ here in Pegwell Bay at Cliffsend.