It grew from a tiny fishing hamlet in 1864 at the hands of an oyster fishery company, was developed from 1879 by land agents, abandoned in 1916 and finally drowned due to coastal erosion by 1921.

All that now remains is the stub of the original pier, the Hampton Inn, and the rocky arc of Hampton-on-Sea's ruined coastal defence visible at low tide.

[3][7] A low sea cliff made of soil edged the coast west of Hampton Pier, and coastal erosion was already an acknowledged problem for the farmers by 1836.

[8][9][10] Altogether the coastline at this site receded by 175 metres (574 ft) in the years between the completion of Hampton Pier in 1865, and the start of construction of modern coastal defences in 1958.

[14] The Herne Bay, Hampton and Reculver Oyster Fishery Company was incorporated with £10,000 capital in £10 shares on 25 July 1864 with Frank Buckland as chairman and Mr Cholmondeley Pennell as deputy.

[15][16] 1860–1864 had been a boom year for oyster farming, especially in nearby Whitstable, and the government supported the trade in 1866 by passing an Act to promote cultivation.

[9] The company's proposals included five oyster smacks or yawls, a pier with storehouses, housing for workers and five freshwater breeding ponds.

[21][22] In the 1870s the oyster trade went into decline and suffered over-fishing, and in 1876 the Government set up a select committee to enquire into scarcity and price.

[24] With builder Thomas Richard Geelong Hoe he planned a housing estate, and a Hampton-on-Sea nameboard was put up at Herne Bay railway station in expectation of this, but then he died in 1880.

The company proposed a genteel resort with large brick bungalows and villas, a temperance hotel plus church, and shops plus tavern.

[27] Ramuz divided the "Grand Parade Estate at Hampton-on-Sea" into 124 development plots for the first auction on 17 September 1888 "to suit all classes" and set up a sales marquee onsite.

[27][28] All the plots were sold within one and a half hours after the buyers, mostly from London, were serenaded by the Buffs 3rd Battalion band during their free lunch.

Plots were advertised more energetically than before and promoted on the basis of Herne Bay's smallness, cheapness, ripeness for speculation and its proximity to the railway line.

Sales were aimed at landlords wanting to buy cheaply and rent at profit, because at that time house-ownership was uncommon and tenancy was the norm.

[27][5] Hampton pier was built of wood and concrete by the oyster company in 1865 at cost of £28,000;[13] it was 1,050 feet (320 m) long so that the landing stage was in deep enough water to allow for the two-fathom draught of the smacks.

In the great storm of 28–29 November 1897 it was badly damaged, and then partially demolished in 1898 to halt erosion and save the houses of Hampton-on-Sea.

When there are exceptional conditions on top of these tidal streams, for example a low pressure system causing higher water level coinciding with strong north-westerly winds, coastal flooding can occur.

[38][5] Hampton Brook, now Westbrook, reached the sea through a stone culvert but seaweed often blocked it, making it overflow and become stagnant.

The land between the houses and the often-foetid Hampton Brook was low-lying enough to be subject to flood during a combination of spring tide, prolonged rainfall and onshore wind.

[3] By 1905 Hampton Grand Parade and half of Marine Drive had been eroded away; then a storm broke through the sea wall and scoured out the land from behind it.

[3][5] In 1903, Edmund James Reid (1846; – Herne Bay 5 December 1917) moved into number Four, Eddington Gardens: the house at the landward end of the terrace, previously advertised for £300.

[41] He named his house Reid's Ranch, painted castellations and cannon on its side and soon became known as the eccentric champion of the beleaguered Hampton-on-Sea residents.

[44] Some chunks of it were removed by contractors until local objections prevented further loss of this landmark which now shelters rockpools, mussels and feeding birds.

[45] Knowledge of what had existed there persisted mostly in the mythology of local children, until in the 1990s an information board featuring a picture of Reid was erected beside the Pier.

[53] There is still a very small fleet of day fishing boats operating offshore of the Hampton area, and landing on the beach at Herne Bay.

[54] Coastal erosion at Hampton-on-Sea has been estimated at 2 m (2.2 yd) per annum[13] between the construction of the old Hampton Pier in 1865 to 1959 when the Council built the sea wall.

The direction and rate of influential currents is unknown, but it is calculated that 180 m3 (240 cu yd) of coastal sediment per annum is scoured by the sea from the Hampton-on-Sea coast and deposited 2 km (1.2 mi) to the west at Long Rock, Swalecliffe.

[57] Cost and limitations meant that a short-term solution of £635,000 capital works was recommended by the Council Steering Group on 29 June 2009 to be implemented from winter 2011 to spring 2011.

The recommendation was to hold the line with replacement and improvement of six timber groynes, importing a new beach of 12,000 m3 (15,700 cu yd) partly taken from Long Rock, raising and extending the rear wall and closing off openings with floodgates.

Farther along the cliffs are higher and crumbly and falling into the sea all the time, which was one reason why nobody wanted to buy Dilly Dally.