Tuesday, 27 February 2024

Skulferatu #114 - Botany Bay, Broadstairs, Kent

 

Some days all you really want is a good beach.  Today was one of those days.  With an egg sandwich and a bottle of water in my bag, I walked along to Botany Bay near Broadstairs.  Not to be confused with Botany Bay in Australia, the landing place of Captain Cook.

 

A photo showing a bay shaped beach (Botany Bay) with groups of people sunbathing on it.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View over Botany Bay

 

A photo showing an overgrown area with a white and yellow sign sticking out of it.  In the top white area are an exclamation mark in a blue circle and another exclamation mark in a yellow triangle.  In the bottom yellow part are the words - KEEP OUT – Unstable Cliff Edge.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
KEEP OUT – Unstable Cliff Edge

 

Walking down on to the golden sands, I left my shoes behind and went for a paddle around the many rock pools.  As I usually do when I’m here, I had a scout around for fossils, as this is an area renowned for its fossils.  I didn’t find any, though did find a rather ergonomic light sort of stone that fitted in the grasp of my hand like it had been specifically designed for that purpose.  It went in my pocket.

 

Back on the beach the white cliffs towered above me, while just along from me were two chalk stacks where an endless array of scantily clad people posed for selfies. 

 

A picture showing bucket type sandcastles on a sandy beach with the sea in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Sandcastles on the beach at Botany Bay

 

A photo showing a tall chalk stack on a beachy area with a white chalk cliff a few metres away from it.  A woman in pink in walking along the sand between the stack and the cliff.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Chalk stack at Botany Bay

 

I ate my egg sandwich, drank my water, and pondered on the fact that a couple of hundred years ago, rather than being a tourist spot for sunbathers and fossil hunters, Botany Bay, like many of the bays around this area of Kent, was notorious for smugglers.  One of the most famous of these was Joss Snelling, who led the Callis Court Gang.  On a cold winter morning in 1769, Joss and his gang were down on the beach at Botany Bay.  There, boatmen had delivered a load of illegally imported wine, brandy, schnapps, and tea.  The gang were just loading it onto carts when they were ambushed by a party of Excise Men.  A bloody battle between the two groups then took place, leaving most of the gang either captured or dead, one of the Excise Men dead, and several of them seriously injured.  Snelling and a couple of his men escaped and though suspected of being members of the gang, were not prosecuted.  Within a few months Snelling was back smuggling and had quickly replaced his lost gang members with new recruits.  

 

Snelling carried on his smuggling activities until he was an old man.  At the age of 89, he and a friend were prosecuted after Excise Men found them on Kingsgate beach by a load of kegs of brandy and rum.  In court Snelling and his friend both stated that they were not involved in smuggling, but rather had found the kegs on the beach while out walking and decided to take them. As there was no evidence of them being involved in smuggling, they were both instead fined for possessing illegally imported goods.   

 

Snelling went on to live to the grand old age of 96 and had achieved such notoriety that in 1829 he was introduced to the future Queen Victoria as ‘the famous Broadstairs smuggler.’

 

A photo of a chalk stack on the beach at Botany Bay.  A shallow sea cave area can be seen in it.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Chalk Stack at Botany Bay

 

Another view of the chalk stack on the beach at Botany Bay.  A shallow sea cave area can be seen in it. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Chalk Stack at Botany Bay

 

A view of the white chalk cliff with a stubby angular chalk stack standing next to it.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Chalk Stack at Botany Bay

 

A photo showing the letters J F carved into the white chalk of the cliff.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Graffiti in the chalk cliffs

 

In the heat of the afternoon sun, I went for another quick paddle and a wander.  Looking around the chalk of the cliffs and the stacks I found lots of graffiti carved into them.   I didn’t remember there being so much last time I visited, and in my memory the cliffs were almost a pure, virginal white.  But hey, memory plays tricks, and it was quite a while since I last visited.

 

As the beach became busier, I decided it was time to make my way home.  Before departing, I left a Skulferatu in a skull and crossbones that someone had carved into the chalk.  

 

A photo showing a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 114) being held up with the chalk stack on Botany Bay in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #114

 

A photo showing a primitive looking skull and crossbones carved into the white chalk cliffs at Botany Bay.  The chalk around it is dirty and dark.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skull and crossbones carved into the chalk cliffs

 

A photo showing a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 114) sitting in the eye of the skull carved into the chalk cliff.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #114 in the eye of the skull

 

A close-up photo showing a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 114) sitting in the eye of the carved skull and crossbones.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #114 in the eye of the skull

 

TomTom Map showing the location of Skulferatu #114
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #114

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 51.388732

Longitude 1.436268

 

what3words: gosh.discouraged.client

 

I used the following sources for information on Botany Bay –

 

East Kent Times and Mail - Wednesday 19 March 1969
 
Isle of Thanet Gazette - Friday 13 February 1998

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