A
devastating 7.0 magnitude earthquake has hit Haiti, including the densely
populated capital Port-Au-Prince and the surrounding area. Click HERE to donate through the Disasters Emergency Committe
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.
