Despite being the favoured holiday destination of no less a figure than Charles Dickens, Broadstairs never aimed to compete with either the much-vaunted gentility of Ramsgate or the mass appeal of Margate.

One of the more surprising features of Canterbury is that, despite the cathedral being the home of the Church of England, no Archbishop of Canterbury was enthroned there until John Bird Sumner in 1848.

A series of short essays covers a range of themes that help explain how Canterbury developed into the city that it is today.

The town of Deal first developed a mile or so inland. But in seventeenth century “Lower Deal”, a network of streets running north of Deal Castle, began to call the shots.

Like Ramsgate, Dover considered itself to be among the more genteel of the 19th century seaside resorts.