Well, not quite the beginning, but you have to go back in time thousands of years to look at the geographical layout of this part of the country to see why a town developed here. A line of London Clay from Faversham through to Herne Bay would not have made good arable land in the early days so perhaps it is not surprising that although the remains of a Mamouth were found at Swalecliffe little evidence has been discovered of early human habitation. The position of the coastline was volatile and Thanet really was an island then.

So, as time goes on, we have this area of land by the sea, subsoil beginning to deepen on it, slightly sheltered by the Isle of Sheppey but with deeper water than that afforded to Faversham by its creek. With heavy wooded areas behind it and salt marshes to the west at Seasalter it became a place in waiting for people.

The kick-start to the town probably began after the arrival of St. Augustine at Canterbury and the subsequent growth of the city. Seasalter was the nearest point to the sea from Canterbury and as the River Stour and the Wantsum Channel silted up new routes were needed to supply the city. Consequently Seasalter grew along a line towards where Whitstable town is today. Whitstable itself grew down to the shore, it is widely believed, from the farming area we now know as Church Street. This growth explains why the church in Whitstable High Street is actually the second Seasalter church, the original and smaller one is to be found off Church Lane in Seasalter.

At this time the sea was becoming the main route of transport for goods and the town grew as the wood from Blean was put to use in building houses and boats. When the tidal salt marshes at Seasalter and Graveney were reclaimed from the sea and put to pasture for sheep the town had settled into a viable community with food from the sea in front of it, from the land beside and behind it, nearby markets for its produce and work in the way of fishing, boat-building and farming. In the bank, so to speak, it was still sitting on the London clay and deposits of copperas which were to aid in its further growth in the coming years.

On the east of the town the villages of Chestfield and Swalecliffe were mainly farming communities under the ownership of first the church, then the monarch and then finally as rewards and bequeaths until the land was held by the local farmers. These two villages have always been regarded as part of Whitstable, the confirmation of this being the joining together of the inhabited areas to the town itself when Tankerton was built in the 20th century.

Well, that potted history lesson may have covered a few million years on only one page so we'll slow down now as we catch up to date. The following links will take you to pages about the town since the 1700's as we write them.

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