Ramsgate Historic Quarter

Events 2025/6

Our sash window repair workshop will be delivered by Ross Harris of SPAB at the sea captain’s cottage on Paradise.

Tickets are available on Eventbrite at £49 including lunch.

Painted brickwork and plastic windows not only detract from the visual impact of our heritage buildings in terms of the aesthetics but undermine the way they contribute to the visitor economy, add to our understanding of cultural identity and the quality of life of residents.
Impermeable paints often hide cement repairs which trap water and accelerate deterioration but it is the expense of making hardwood or treated wood window frames that is so often prohibitively expensive. We live in a time where replacement is the norm but our forebears would on the whole maintain their windows long before they became beyond repair.
In my row of early 18th century sea captain's cottages in Paradise, Ramsgate, my neighbours opted to re-paint their houses whilst I spent the weekend up a ladder stripping the paint off with a heat gun. Not only was it cheaper (because I didn't need a contractor) but it was much quicker and bringing back the original deep red brick work made the building look like a heritage building once more.
The basement window had rotted and needed replacing (it wasn't the original) but the six over six sashes on the ground and first floors merely required taking apart, replacing any cracked lights, weights and ropes and introducing some simple draught excluder to tighten up the fit and they were as good as new. The heartwood (probably Baltic pine) frames were still good after 300 years but if there had been any joint repairs needed I could have just taken them down to my local joinery shop. Today, it seems, we are all obsessed with the value of insulation and think we need double or triple glassed windows but to hermetically seal a Georgian house is to suffocate it. Besides a small company in Edinburgh, Gecko, can make bespoke panels that fit into the lights that can if required be removed in the summer and don't detract from the aesthetic.
I met Ross Harris of SPAB at an event in London last year demonstrating sash window repair and asked him if he would come to Ramsgate to show us how to do it. Our workshop is on 4th July at the very sea captains cottage on Paradise. Places are £49 for the day including lunch. Whilst Ross' repairs will no doubt be far superior to mine you don't have to be a heritage expert to attempt them.

On Saturday September 13th we opened some of the sea captains cottages to the public as part of the national Heritage Open Day festival 2025.

There were tours, an exhibition of old maps and illustrations and historic artefacts. Later there were sea shanties, sea biscuits and grog

This event was free

Our first Heritage Building Skills Workshop took place on Friday 26th and Saturday 27th of September 2025.

‘Bricks & Mortar of the Georgian and Victorian eras’ was led by the UK’s leading authority Dr Gerard Lynch.

‘The best heritage course I’ve ever been on.’ Conservation Officer London

As part of cultural program this year Burns Night was celebrated in the traditional way with Haggis, Neeps and Tatties accompanied with poetry readings and folk songs.

Thursday 12th of March is the Project launch and Open Viewing of the Flemish gable house at Queens Court.

We hope to conserve this building as part of our heritage building skills program and open it to the public as a folklore museum.

One of the biggest issues living in an old property is understanding how they perform in terms of heating, ventilation and insulation.

Many thanks to Stanley Rayfield who helped us understand the many ways you can increase the energy efficiency of your home whilst remaining true to the heritage of the building.