Simply Whitstable

In putting together the Simply Whitstable flood section, we hit a slight snag.... we could find no map of the flooding! The production of such a document quickly became an obsession with us.... but there were problems!

I was only 3 years old at the time and not allowed out until some of the deluge had subsided. Thus, I had no detailed knowledge of the extent of the disaster! Furthermore, I quickly discovered that people had been so busy coping with the problem in their own locality that they had not had time to note the total picture. When you think about it.... it's not really surprising!

Thus, the "cartography bit" was a case of piecing together information from a wide range of stories and anecdotes from our visitors. After some months, we have, at last, managed to produce a rough plan... but even now there are details that remain uncertain (particularly in the area of Station and Cromwell Roads) and the map should be regarded as an approximation only.

Let's start by taking a look at a rough plan of the town back in 1953 and picking out some key features of the sea defences....

Initially, we'll look at the western half of the town - (to the left of the Middle Wall road way! Here we had....

A first line sea defence comprising the "bank" that supports much of Island Wall roadway.
A second line sea defence provided by the raised walkway which crossed the golf course and afforded protection against floodwater arriving from the extreme west.
A third barrier provided by the raised Middle Wall and Oxford Street roads.
The natural clay slope of West Cliff which provided an impenetrable barrier to the south.

Let's remove the clutter from the plan and highlight these defences and natural barriers in yellow.....

As you can see, there was a triangular framework of raised ground surrounding a low, flat basin. In fact, you could argue that there were two basins... with the golf course causeway dissecting the larger depression. These "hollows" would suffer the worst of the town's flooding.

Now let's move East of Middle Wall. Here, the land is also low-lying.... but it is a few feet higher than the western district and has some subtle contours.

Again, there was a first line defence - provided by the bank supporting the Sea Wall roadway and the raised section of Harbour Street that edges the harbour's South Quay.

East of the old Whitstable-Canterbury railway line, the land rises sharply to form a clay hill and this provided natural protection for the Tankerton area.

There is no obvious second line sea defence... unless you count the railway embankment of the main London-Thanet railway line that skirts the southern edge of the map.

There is also another complexity - the Gorrell Stream (marked in blue on the map). This flows as an open dyke from the hills to Belmont Road but it then disappears into a man made drain and burrows under the main railway line en route to a reservoir close to the harbour. Water from the reservoir was released into the sea via a sluice gate under Harbour Street. I presume this happened at low tide.

Nowadays, the "reservoir" is hidden beneath a car park and is known as the Gorrell Tank. However, back in 1953, it was a muddy open lake referred to by locals as "The Backwater".

That's set the scene. Now let's splodge some sea water on our map during the early hours of 1 February 1953....

As mentioned earlier, the map is based on memories collected from our visitors.... most of whom were youngsters at the time. It should not be regarded as accurate in every detail. However, as a "broad brush" view, it is useful for the purpose of discussing how and why certain things developed.

Let's take the simple bit first.... the area west of Middle Wall (marked with dark blue water on the map). Here, the sea poured across the beach at several points and filled those low lying basins. The first line sea defence (Island Wall) had failed and the second line defence (the raised causeway across the golf course) had been bypassed. Only the raised area of Oxford Street and the high slope of West Cliff prevented the water penetrating further south.

In fact, once breached, the sea defences actually became a hindrance because they trapped the flood and prevented the water from draining back into the sea. Thus, this area was destined to suffer the longest period of recovery. However, after the initial deluge, much of the raised Island Wall roadway remained "dry" and provided a platform for the aid services. The golf course causeway also afforded a precarious pedestrian route to and from the West Beach area.

The causeway provided a precarious walk through the worst of the flooding. This picture shows the northern end of the path - running west-east with the flooded boating lake on the left.

Our thanks to Jackie Evans for forwarding the photo.

Looking at the map, it is easy to see why Middle Wall and the Oxford Street/Nelson Road junction became key points for rescue operations.

A temporary "beach" was formed at the junction of Nelson Road and Oxford Street. This was used to launch rescue operations.

Our thanks to Barbara Wardle for allowing us to us this photo taken by father Derek Fallon.

© Barbara Wardle

They formed temporary beaches from which small boats could be launched.... and they had direct access to the town's main road system.

Now, let's move on to the far more complex area east of Middle Wall. It is here that we have had most difficulty defining the high water mark and the map is merely an overview to show some key features. Hopefully, with more sightings, we will be able to refine it.

Water poured over both Sea Wall and the Harbour's South Quay into the low lying areas beyond (the lighter blue area on the main flood map).

To the East, it spread across the flat waste lands of the old Canterbury- Whitstable railway line and reached (we think) the dip in Clare Road. Here, its progress was halted by the natural slope that lifts Tankerton above the town centre.

However, the real problems occurred southward - with sea water penetrating to a section of Cromwell Road adjacent to the main London-Thanet rail line. We have even had a report that water entering Cromwell Road from Regent Street damaged a garden wall that attempted to stand in its way.

Of course, the London-Thanet railway line provided an ultimate barrier for the primary surge but, in truth, the flooding had lost much of its ferocity at this point and it is doubtful that it would have penetrated much further south anyway.

To some extent our map remains a "guesstimate" because there are subtle variations in relief across the whole area. One of the most curious is a slight "rise" around St. Peters Road and Victoria Street which created an "island" in the very heart of the flood.

Another interesting feature of the map is that the southerly flooding did not produce an even spread of water. It actually created a narrow "estuary" that penetrated along the course of the Gorrell Stream. It's easy to overlook such a seemingly minor drainage feature. After all, the brook's insignificant trickle causes no problem in normal circumstances. However, like any river, it marked the line of "lowest relief" and the route most likely to be exploited by flooding from the sea.

It seems that the Gorrell stream didn't just create a convenient path for the primary surge... it also contributed its own "secondary" flood problems and these actually bypassed the barrier of the London-Thanet railway embankment.

I had been unaware of this until Barbara Wardle kindly forwarded some lovely old photos taken by her dad, Derek Fallon. Take a look at these and note the locations....

Above: A view of the "secondary flooding" in Belmont Road taken from the bank of the old railway sidings and looking east.

Photo by Derek Fallon and kindly forwarded by Barbara Wardle..

Above:

Belmont Road pictured from the junction with Millstrood Hill and Old Bridge Road - looking west.

Below

The scene in Old Bridge Road looking north at the field that is now occupied by Millfield Manor. Stream walk lies beneath this section of roadway and takes a sharp left turn alongside the house on the extreme right of the picture.

Photos by Derek Fallon and reproduced with kind permission of Barbara Wardle

These shots were the first evidence that I had ever seen of flooding south of the London to Thanet railway line. Some may have been seawater that penetrated along the underground drain. However, much of it would have been freshwater.

With the sea occupying much of its lower reaches and "The Backwater" flooded, the Gorrell Stream had nowhere to go. It therefore broke its banks, flowed across the Whitstable Cricket Club ground and settled in the Belmont and Old Bridge roadways.

This escape of fresh water would have occurred during the hours that followed the initial sea flood. In effect, it was secondary flooding... and this brings home another interesting point. Until now, I had never fully appreciated that the events of "1953" were not only an "instant disaster". Rescue and aid services would have been confronted with a sequence and a build up of problems in the immediate aftermath of the sea defences being breached.

Now, let's finalise things with a few words about the recovery process. I presume that the flooding east of Middle Wall subsided much quicker than that in those low basins to the west. Part of this was due to the fact that the land was slightly higher and the floodwater somewhat shallower. However, there may have been another reason. The line of the Gorrell Stream, the backwater and the associated sluice gate, provided a drainage system that may have enabled water to clear more quickly.

Now... if you can add to or correct any of this information, we would love to hear from you! In the meantime, we would like to thank Barbara Wardle and Jackie Evans for providing the photos..... and extend our appreciation to all who have contributed information used in the article.