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Laying the foundations for learning and life
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our history
Welcome to our history page. If you feel you have more information, we would love to hear from you.
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So back to modern day now. This is a photo of a bungalow built in St. Crispin’s Road for a Mr. Crispin no less. We suspect that that is where the name of the road came from. We understand this bungalow was built in the early 1920’s but it was not until the 1930’s that St. Crispin’s Road began to take shape. It was nothing like we know it now though.
Mr. Crispin’s bungalow
Mr Crispin was involved with the building of St Crispin’s Road and also with St Margaret’s Road. Before the Second World War, Mr. Crispin was given the chance to buy Dreamland for £100. Mr. Crispin died in 1956 but it was not until 1984 that his bungalow was demolished. Comparison of the two pictures below shows that the houses in Prospect Close have in fact now been built in place of the bungalow.
It is believed that St. Crispin’s school was in fact built in part of the large garden that went with the bungalow. The school was in fact built in 1963 and only consisted of the six main classrooms.
Further down the road where the Georgian style houses are now, were the playing fields for St. Margarets Girls school which was situated on the sea front in Westgate. A caravan park was established on the playing fields at some point before the houses were built here. What interesting times St. Crispin’s Road has seen!
Our thanks to Mr. Richard Hambidge who has lived in Westgate all his life, for the photos and a lot of the information on this page.
Our thanks also to Mr Trevor Crispin, Mr. Crispin’s grandson, who gave us the information about his granddad.
Our thanks also to Mr Trevor Crispin, Mr. Crispin’s grandson, who gave us the information about his granddad.
Who was St. Crispin?
St. Crispin is one of the patron saints of shoemakers and 25th October is St. Crispin’s feast day and the shoemakers’ holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers closed their shops on this date in celebration and commemoration.
St. Crispin is one of the patron saints of shoemakers and 25th October is St. Crispin’s feast day and the shoemakers’ holiday. In the past, boot and shoemakers closed their shops on this date in celebration and commemoration.
St.Crispin and his twin brother (Crispinian) were two Roman saints and shoemakers. One version of their story states that they lived in Canterbury in the 3rd century. Legend has it that their mother feared for their lives and so they needed to disguise themselves and leave the area.
They set out on the Roman road to London and paused outside a shoemaker’s shop in Faversham. It is said that the staff sounded so cheerful and the atmosphere seemed so convivial that they decided to ask for apprenticeships. Offered these, they settled down well and soon became champion shoemakers.
An alternative story reports the brothers as being born into a wealthy Roman family. They fled persecution for their faith and ended up in Soissons, France where they preached Christianity to the Gauls and made shoes by night.
St. Crispin’s Road
In fact this old photo on the right, shows what was seemingly one of the first bungalows to be built in St. Crispin’s Road. It is obvious from this photo that there was not a path as such and no road either. We are reliably informed that this photo is well over 100 years old so it was well before Mr. Crispin’s bungalow.
