So named in consequence of its having been the point at which King Charles II. and his brother, the Duke of York, disembarked on their way from London to Dover, as recorded in the preceding inscription. It consists of a narrow sloping passage, cut through the chalk cliff, and communicating with the beach for the convenience of the fishery formerly carried on in this neighbourhood. It was originally known as "St. Bartholomew's Gate," from the circumstance of its having been completed, according to tradition, on the festival of that Saint, and therefore placed under hallowed auspices. The eastern side of this portal, opposite the sea, bears, in Saxon characters, God Bless Barth'lem's Gate. It is about a mile from Broadstairs, and in the midst of scenery which Henry Lord Holland did much to embellish by great liberality and a correct taste in architecture. His marine residence here was built after the model of Cicero's villa on the shore of BaiÆ, near Naples; but being subsequently purchased by some monied speculator, who had most likely never heard of Cicero, it was despoiled of its rich Italian marbles, curtailed and barbarised in its proportions, and metamorphosed into three insignificant dwellings. Around it were several fantastic buildings, intended to represent various Gothic ruins; the most considerable of which was the convent, containing the remains of a chapel and five cells, which once afforded an asylum to poor families. Nearer the cliff is a rude Gothic structure, erected on the larger of the two tumuli, called Hackendown Banks, which, according to tradition, marks the spot where a sanguinary conflict took place between the Saxons and the Danes, in which the latter were defeated. On opening these barrows, graves were found excavated in the solid chalk, of an oblong oval form, about three feet long, and covered with flat stones. In one of them were discovered three urns of coarse, black, ill-burnt earth, which, on being exposed to the air, crumbled to pieces. On a tablet erected by Lord Holland is a Latin inscription, to the memory of the Danes and Saxons, who here fought a sanguinary battle for the possession of Britain; the natives having before been perfidiously and cruelly expelled. The village of St. Peter, situated on a conspicuously wooded eminence, is much frequented by pleasure parties from the three bathing-places adjacent. The church is a fine, venerable structure, the steeple of which, of great strength and solidity, is remarkable for a rent from top to bottom, occasioned, it is said, by the shock of an earthquake, which was severely felt along this coast in 1580.

The North Foreland, the most eastern point of England, and supposed to be the "Cantium" of Ptolemy, forms a bold projection on the line of cliffs between Broadstairs and Kingsgate. On this promontory stands the North Foreland Lighthouse, which has proved an incalculable safeguard to the navigation of the Downs, which, independently of the near vicinity of the Goodwin Sands, is attended with great risk in dark and stormy weather. The lights consist of patent lamps, with large magnifying lenses twenty inches in diameter, which are lighted at sunset, and kept burning till after daybreak. From the top the view of the straits and French coast is most extensive, and on this account it is much resorted to by strangers. The date of its erection is that of the landing of King Charles at Kingsgate, already noticed.

The Goodwin Sands, which here protect the Downs from the swell of the Northern Ocean, are about seven miles from the coast, ten miles long, and two or more in breadth. They consist of a more soft, fluid, porous, spongy, but withal tenacious substance, than the neighbouring sands, and are consequently of such a quality, that when a ship strikes upon them there is but very little chance of her getting off: the nature of the sand being to swallow its prey in a few hours, while the surf, which breaks over them, frustrates all attempts to approach the ill-fated vessel. When the tide, however, has ebbed sufficiently, these sands become so hard and firm that cricket-matches have been played upon them. But woe to him who does not quit so treacherous a field at the proper moment; for on the return of the tide they are instantly converted into quicksands, that float to and fro with the waves.