Deal, Kent

Description
Deal, a town, a parish (divided in 1852 into three ecclesiastical parishes, St Leonard's, St George's, and St Andrew's), and a municipal borough in Kent. The town stands on the coast, facing the Downs, opposite the Goodwin Sands, with a joint station on the S.E.R. and L.C. & D.R., 86 miles from London, and 5 SSE of Sandwich. The railway connecting the town with Dover was constructed in 1879. It may have been the place of Caesar's landing fifty-five years before the Christian era; it was known at Domesday as Addelam; it was the place of Perkin Warbeck's landing in 1495; it received Anne of Cleves after her voyage in 1540; it was attacked by Prince Charles in 1648; it felt an earthquake shock in 1692 and it was the landing-place of Adelaide, the queen of William IV. It is a municipal borough, a member of the Cinque-port liberty of Sandwich, a coastguard and pilot station, and a seat of petty sessions. The air being good, and the sea-beach favourable for bathing, Deal has of late years been resorted to as a watering-place, and several rows of houses have been erected for the accommodation of visitors, besides a gentlemen's club with a fine sea frontage, baths, libraries, &c. There are several hotels, a bank, and a golf club. The town comprises three parts, Upper, Middle, and Lower, the latter consisting of three long narrow streets parallel with the beach, and adjoins on the south the parish of Walmer, in the castle of which the Duke of Wellington died in 1852. Lower Deal contains the bulk of the population, and has a head post office, of the name of Deal. Upper Deal stands on a hill above Middle Deal, was the original village, and has a post office under Deal. Deal Castle, like the neighbouring ones of Sandown and Walmer, was built by Henry VIII. for defence of the coast. It has been converted into a family residence, and is now in the occupation of Lord Herschel. An assembly-room was erected in 1865, and there is a capacious Oddfellows' hall. The town-hall, in Lower Deal, is a spacious edifice of 1803, and contains portraits of William III. and William IV. A council chamber and some police cells were added in 1883. St Leonard's Church, in Upper Deal, is an ancient structure with some Norman fragments. St George's Church, in Lower Deal, was built in 1715, and is an excellent specimen of the church architecture of that day; it was reseated in 1877. St Andrew's Church, in West Street, was built in 1850, and enlarged in 1865. The General Baptist chapel was built in the time of the Commonwealth by Samuel Tavemor, governor of the castle. The Congregational chapel was built soon after the ejectment of 1662, and replaced by the Congregational Bi-Centenary Memorial Church erected in 1882. There are five other dissenting chapels, and a Roman Catholic chapel dedicated to St Thomas a, Becket of Canterbury. The Victoria Baptist Church, in the Gothic style, was erected in 1881. The convent and orphanage of St Ethelburga was established in 1871 for educating young girls. The teaching is conducted by the Sisters of Notre Dame des Missions, and there is room for seventy inmates. Four weekly newspapers are published, and a provision trade, sail-making, and boatbuilding are carried on. A pier on iron piles stretching 920 feet out to sea, 20 feet wide generally, but 40 feet wide at the head, with an average depth there of 10 feet at low-water spring tides, and the platform 13 feet above high-water mark, was constructed in 1864,* and a pavilion for concerts at the head of the pier in 1886. The adjacent roadstead of the Downs is sheltered by the Goodwin Sands. The town was chartered by William IIL, and made a member of Sandwich parliamentary borough by the Reform Act. The municipal borough is conterminate with the parish, and is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen, and 18 councillors. The parish comprises 1111 acres of land and 50 of water; population, 8891. The livings of St Leonard and St Andrew are rectories, and that of St George a perpetual curacy titular vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; values respectively, -6400, £300, and £800. Patron of all, the Archbishop of Canterbury.