Free history audio trail launches in Ramsgate

The audio guides tourists along the high street from the perspective of a visitor in 1829

An audio guide that aims to transport visitors back in time for a historical high street tour has launched in Kent.

The High Street Highlights project guides tourists through Ramsgate High Street as it would have been in the 19th Century.

The initiative is a collaboration between Thanet District Council, Ramsgate Town Council and Historic England.

Clive Holland, a local actor and writer who developed the tour, told BBC Radio Kent: "There are so many stories there that many of us don't know."

Local actor and writer Clive Holland is behind the High Street Highlights audio trail

"Our trail is one way of hopefully bringing people into the high street," he added.

It is the second trail of its kind in Ramsgate following a Harbour Highlights guide.

The High Street trail is given from the perspective of real-life character Mrs Benham, who visited the town in 1829 and teaches listeners about the shops, houses and people who lived there in the 19th Century.

"The reason we know so much about Mrs Benham is that they kept a diary of their holiday right down to what they bought and how much they spent in the market," Mr Holland told BBC Radio Kent.

Stops on the tour include the birthplace of Victorian writer and suffragette Netta Syrett, Sanger's Amphitheatre and the site of a pub destroyed in a Zeppelin raid.

The free project is part of Historic England's High Streets Heritage Action Zone programme which aims to "unlock the potential" of historic high streets across England.

Other towns, including Rochester in Kent and Hastings in East Sussex, are already part of the programme.

The trail can be accessed via a free-to-download mobile phone app.

The guide aims to educate tourists about the history of some of the buildings that can be seen along Ramsgate High Street

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