Clock House internal photographs by John Walker

 Members will be interested to know what the current situation is with the restoration of the Clock House and the Maritime Museum.

The Society started promoting a project for the renovation of the Clock House as a new Heritage Centre and Maritime Museum back in 2016. The Heritage Lottery Fund were keen to support the project but Thanet District Council, as the property owners, declined to proceed, preferring to obtain vacant possession from their tenants The Steam Museum Trust and consider their commercial options for the building after that.

No progress was made until 2021 when it was announced that Ramsgate would receive £20 million from the Levelling up Fund and that part of this would be used to renovate the Clock House with a view to creating a new Heritage Centre and Maritime Museum. Progress since then has been slow but TDC have recently submitted a planning application for the renovation of the Clock House and the creation of a Town Square in Pier Yard and this is expected to be approved shortly. TDC has appointed a main contractor to undertake the necessary work and the contractor is expected to be on site in July 2025 with completion in March 2026.

In the meantime, Rob Warren (Trustee of The Ramsgate Society and a professional museum curator) has been engaged by TDC to catalogue the museum collection, which they now own, and to remove it to a secure storage facility in one of their properties. This work has now been completed with the help of some of our dedicated volunteers to whom we are very grateful. As you will see in the attached photographs the Clock House is now virtually empty for the first time in its long history!

Having reached this stage in the project TDC invited us to a meeting on 8th April to discuss the future operation of the Museum. It was agreed that this would be treated as a collaborative project with both parties seeking to work closely together to deliver a viable and sustainable Maritime Museum. We expect to be progressing these discussions with TDC over the next few months and will update members further as matters progress.

 John Walker

Ramsgate Society Chair