[citation needed] This came to be called "Broadstairs", after a flight of steps which was made in the cliff to give access to the shrine from the bay.

A more enduring structure was to replace this in 1538, when the road leading to the seafront, known as Harbour Street, was cut into the rough chalk ground on which Broadstairs is built, by another George Culmer.

Going further in defence of the town, he built the York Gate in 1540, a portal that still spans Harbour Street and which then held two heavy wooden doors that could be closed in times of threat from the sea.

At this time, it was of considerable importance to the fishing trade with catches as far afield as Great Yarmouth, Hastings, Folkestone, Dover and Torbay and elsewhere being landed.

It had become so indispensable that the corporations of Yarmouth, Dover, Hythe and Canterbury with assistance from the East India Company and Trinity House subscribed to its restoration with a payment of £2,000 in 1774.

Smuggling was an important industry in the area, and the men of Broadstairs and St Peter's became very good at outwitting customs agents.

The familiar sailing hoys took anything up to 72 hours to reach Margate from London, whereas the new steamships were capable of making at least nine voyages in this time.

[8] Although numerous holidaymakers were attracted to Broadstairs and to other Thanet seaside towns during the Victorian era, it was not directly served by the railways until 1863.

This was a time of great expansion for railways in the South East; in 1860 Victoria Station had been completed, followed by Charing Cross and Cannon Street.

Rail access to Broadstairs had previously relied heavily upon coach links to other railway stations in the district or region; with firms such as Bradstowe Coachmasters, operated by William Sackett and John Derby, principally involved.

Their coaches connected Broadstairs to Whitstable station where a railway service had begun as early as 1830 (one of the first in England, with its pioneering Stephenson's engine Invicta).

Others may have been at sea on census day: Steamer Point, as the pier head at Broadstairs was then known, would have been fairly busy with shipping movements since consignments of coal and other produce would have been traded along the coast and there would have been regular work on the steam packet to and from Ramsgate.

A "guide book" of the 1930s by A.H. Simison (the photographic chemist) entitled Ramsgate (The Kent Coast at its best) Pictorially Presented, describes Broadstairs town as having approached modernisation and urban development "always with a consistent policy of retaining those characteristics for which it has for so long been renowned".

The 2023 Local Elections saw major changes in the political make-up of Broadstairs, with the Conservative Party retaining only four of their previously held eight seats.

[12] The parish has a low proportion of non-white people compared with national figures; the ethnicity recorded in the 2001 census was 97.9% white, 0.7% mixed race, 0.3% Chinese, 0.7% other Asian, 0.2% black and 0.2% other.

[12] The number of foreign-born residents is relatively low; the place of birth of residents in 2001 was 94.7% United Kingdom, 0.7% Republic of Ireland, 0.5% Germany, 0.9% other Western Europe countries, 0.3% Eastern Europe, 0.8% Africa, 0.6% South Asia, 0.5% Far East, 0.3% North America, 0.2% Middle East, 0.2% Oceania and 0.1% South America.

There was a high percentage of residents over 65, compared with the national average of 16%, mainly due to seaside towns being popular retirement destinations.

The Office for National Statistics estimated that during the period of April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households was £522 (£27,219 per year).

[12] As a seaside resort, the economy is mainly based around tourism; there are hotels and guest houses on and near the seafront to accommodate the influx of all-year-round visitors.

Although the number of hotels in recent years has declined because of the high land redevelopment values, this has resulted in an improvement in quality of the existing premises.

The High Street has a wide variety of independent shops and services and there are several factories, mainly situated on the small industrial estates on the town's borders.

On Harbour Street, the Pavilion on the Sands hosts a summer show and all-year entertainment, with extensive views across the bay.

News of the loss of the Irish packet Royal Adelaide with 250 lives, on the sands off Margate on 6 April 1850, may have been the prompt that led old Thomas White to present one of his lifeboats to his home town of Broadstairs that summer.

In 1848 they had a son, again named William, who in adult life was better known as Bill "Floaty" Stevenson, and became a member of the Frances Forbes Barton lifeboat crew.

Infant and Primary Secondary Modern and Grammar Junior and Preparatory Senior schools The original Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea is believed to date back to at least the 11th century.

The Anglican parish church is Holy Trinity, dating from 1830,[22] and which was described by Dickens as "a hideous temple of flint, like a petrified haystack".

[23] Dickens swam here[24] and British comedian Frank Muir grew up as a 'Beach Boy' in the town, describing his experience in the sea and on 'the sands' in a chapter of his autobiography.

[25] There are public toilets at the beach level in Viking Bay, but no changing facilities and one very basic freshwater shower (summer only).

At middle and low tides, the shelf is much more gently sloping and it is possible to play in the surf, and even swim, in water that is only waist high.