Now, it always pays to wander off the main roads when you have a few hours to spare, and just let the streets and your curiosity do the rest.
And so it was last week when our Liz and Colin wandered into Deal, which is not far from where they live.
They know the place well, but there is always something new to see.
So, taking a turn off from The Marina which is the wide road that runs along the shore line, they plunged down a narrow side street, and came on Middle Street which runs from Oak Street to North Street, and is equally narrow.
It was saved from demolition in 1964 when it was the subject of a grand town plan, which happily was shelved due to popular outcry.
And I can see why there was a public campaign to keep it. Many of the properties date back to the 17th and 18th centuries and look the part of any period scene.
That said these quaint houses and the narrow streets off Middle Street were once neither so quaint or so picturesque, having once been a dangerous place, where poverty and crime were bedfellows and more than a few murders occurred, including that of a young naval ensign murdered by the landlord of the Ship Inn for being cheeky to his wife.
So notorious was the murder, that the Ship Inn which dates from 1764 briefly changed its name to the Seagull.
Not that any of that racy past was on offer when Liz and Colin meandered along Middle Street, taking in both the Ship Inn and Dolphin Street which leads back to The Marina.
Location; Deal
Pictures; Deal, 2019, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick
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| Dolphin Street, 2019 |
They know the place well, but there is always something new to see.
So, taking a turn off from The Marina which is the wide road that runs along the shore line, they plunged down a narrow side street, and came on Middle Street which runs from Oak Street to North Street, and is equally narrow.
It was saved from demolition in 1964 when it was the subject of a grand town plan, which happily was shelved due to popular outcry.
 |
| The Ship, Middle Street, 2019 |
That said these quaint houses and the narrow streets off Middle Street were once neither so quaint or so picturesque, having once been a dangerous place, where poverty and crime were bedfellows and more than a few murders occurred, including that of a young naval ensign murdered by the landlord of the Ship Inn for being cheeky to his wife.
So notorious was the murder, that the Ship Inn which dates from 1764 briefly changed its name to the Seagull.
Not that any of that racy past was on offer when Liz and Colin meandered along Middle Street, taking in both the Ship Inn and Dolphin Street which leads back to The Marina.
Location; Deal
Pictures; Deal, 2019, from the collection of Elizabeth and Colin Fitzpatrick
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