A HISTORY enthusiast from Broadstairs says the image of a medieval boat is hidden within the town's roads – lending a cryptic clue to its naval history.

Simon Gerrard has spent two years delving into the town's past to create a series of history boards about the area.

He says his most recent discovery is that the roads forming one of the oldest parts of the town could have been deliberately made into the shape of a ship.

He said: "It may be slightly abstract but I am confident that the shape of the roads represents the early kind of naval ship they were building in Broadstairs during the Medieval and Tudor periods.

"I think it is quite uncanny, I cannot see it as anything else."

Before the town started turning into a tourism hot-spot in the 18th century it had a been a place where ships were built. Nearby St Peter's had been a limb of the Royal Cinque Port of Sandwich.

The land around Pierremont Park, where the ship can be seen, is believed to have been owned and developed by John Crampton, the father of Victorian engineer Thomas Crampton.

Mr Gerrard believes Crampton could be one of the people behind the ship-shaped roads, paying tribute to the past.

He said: "I think the roads were laid out this way as a wonderful nod to the town's history and what a gesture it is"

Peter Shaw, the curator of the Crampton Tower Museum, said: "To be honest I have never heard anything like it before but it is an interesting theory."

The discovery will now feature on history boards to be placed by the Broadstairs Pavilion, the site of an ancient ship yard.

It will form part of the Mr Gerrard's historic trail across the town, which begins with the cafe at the tip of the harbour arm in Viking Bay.