Ramsgate Maritime Museum

The Ramsgate Maritime Museum occupies the Clock House on the Royal Harbour, a handsome Grade II listed building completed in 1817. Ramsgate remains the only Royal Harbour in the United Kingdom, a title granted by George IV in 1821 in gratitude for the hospitality shown to him during his embarkation from the town, and the museum tells the story of how the port came to hold that unique status.

Inside you'll find displays covering local shipwrecks, the town's long connection with cross-Channel trade and rescue, the Goodwin Sands (the notorious sandbanks lying a few miles offshore), and Ramsgate's role in the Dunkirk evacuation of 1940, when many of the town's little ships sailed to bring troops home. Exhibits include navigational instruments, ship models, salvaged artefacts and material relating to the meridian line that passes through the building.

The Clock House itself is part of the story: its clock was used by mariners to set their chronometers before setting sail, and Ramsgate Mean Time (five minutes and forty-one seconds ahead of Greenwich) was once observed here. The museum is compact and easily combined with a walk around the harbour arms and a look at the fishing boats and yachts moored below.