FOLKESTONE - located in Kent, and on the South East coast. A resort town with sandy beaches, colourful gardens and charming people (pop. approx. 50,000).
Elegance and tradition, wide leafy avenues and cinnamon brick buildings; period architecture, Georgian stone columns. Cobbled old High Street, working harbour, a wide sweeping promenade with outstanding views; bandstand set amongst breathtaking flower arrangements hosting regular outdoor concerts; a fine selection of restaurants, cafes, bistros, pubs, and old taverns. Windsurfing, sailing, fishing, and cycling. Sports centre, swimming pool, bowling, and golf. From London - 1 hour 19 mins. Gatwick - 1 hour 30 mins. Heathrow - 1 hour 50 mins. France - 35 mins. Canterbury - 30 mins. Dover - 15 mins. Eurotunnel - 5 mins.
"One of the prettiest watering places on the south coast. The situation is delightful, the air is delicious, and the breezy hills and downs, carpeted with wild thyme and decorated with millions of wild flowers are, on the faith of a pedestrian, perfect." - Charles Dickens on Folkestone
The name Folkestone was first recorded as far back as the late seventh century in the guise of Folcanstan. The name probably refers to the ‘stone of Folca’, Folca being a common Old English man’s name.
Two memorials in bronze, both with the dignity of history and the glory of the artists' touch stand in the town. One is the fine statue of William Harvey who one day sat with the little sons of Charles I watching the battle of Edgehill, and another day discovered for the human race that the blood circulates the body through miles of capillaries and arteries and veins. He was born here and his mother lies in the church "a Godly, harmless woman, a quiet neighbour, a friendly matron", as her brass says. The other bronze memorial is at the Head of the Road of Remembrance. It reminds us that millions of soldiers walked this way to embark for the Fields of Death.
Of the Churches, the Church of Saint Mary and St.Eanswythe is the most interesting. It stands as in a garden, and is rich in beautiful memorials. In it lies the remains of King Ethelberts' granddaughter. It was rebuilt as we see it today, between 1856 and 1874. The font is 15th Century. The one at the west end of the south aisle is 200 years older. A stone to Rebecca Rogers, a crusader against the chimney tax, is in the church yard. Much of the glass in the church was destroyed by bombing during the second world war but the great west window in memory of William Harvey is still there.
In our own time Folkestone has had a curate who should always be remembered for having given so many nations the inspiration of burying an Unknown Warrior. It was David Railton who suggested this idea, and it was the Dean of Westminster who passed it on to the Cabinet, which adopted it.
A year or two after the First World War a landslip on the East Cliff broke a Roman house in two. The end of a drain was seen with a Roman tile projecting from it. It chanced that on the spot was the right man for a search, Mr S. E. Winbolt. With the help of twenty men he cleared the site and brought to light the remains of two houses complete with bathrooms and hypocausts through whose furnace arches one could walk stooping. The remains of over twenty rooms, a corridor, and a courtyard were found, with a mosaic floor, a kitchen with two fireplaces, and remains of food. Coins, hairpins, brooches, silver and bronze, a mirror and a chain, were found lying there. The site was covered over in 1957.
A museum of local interest is situated at Grace Hill, and has finds from a 1st Century cemetery discovered at Cheriton in 1948, items associated with the wreck of the Benvenue, hands on activities to bring history to life, archaeological evidence of early life, trade, and smuggling, and many more important collections.
Spade House was once the home of H. G. Wells; some of his best known works were written here.