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Margate, EnglandSituated on the Isle of Thanet now part of the north Kent coast in SE England. Considered to be the very first English sea side resort town, Margate remains one of the most enigmatic towns in Britain. Until the mid 18th century it was small fishing community with flint built cottages and a warren of smugglers routes through the local chalk cliffs. After 1760 the craze for sea bathing led first to Margate because of it close proximity to London and its wonderful sandy beach. A stately row of Georgian terraces was quickly built on the site of Fort Paragon, a defunct coastal battery and the village became a bustling town. Turner studied art at Margate and took advantage of the haze effect created by the sun setting over the Thames estuary clearly visable from the harbour. Many consider his numerous studies of the sunset vista to be the birth of Impressionism. Accordingly a museum dedicated to Turner is planned for the harbour area. During the late 19th centuary Margate became a cheap and popular resort for Londoners and that tradition was maintained until the late 1980's. The last tea time dance in the lido was held in September 1991. With the growth of foreign travel Margate declined into the 21st Century as the cheapest property location in SE England. Most of the hotels became nursing homes for the poor or hostels for asylum seekers.
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