Folkestone, Kent

Historical Description

Folkestone, a seaport town and parish, a municipal and (in conjunction with Hythe) a parliamentary borough in Kent. The town stands on the coast, and has stations on the S.E.R., 70 miles from London, 6½ WSW of Dover, and 15 SSE of Canterbury. Acreage of the civil parish, 2482; population, 23,905; of the ecclesiastical, 23,216; of the municipal borough, 23,711. For municipal purposes the town is divided into three wards, and is governed by a corporation consisting of mayor, 4 aldermen, and 14 councillors. Its name was written Folcestane by the Saxons, Fulchestan in Domesday Book, and has been regarded as a corruption of variously Fulke's town, signifying " the town of Fulke," Folkh'-stane, signifying "the fairies' rock," and Flos-stane, signifying (t the break in the rock." Its site is a congeries of cliffs and hillocks, such as to have induced Thomas Ingoldsby to say-" Rome stood on seven hills, Folkestone seems to have been built on seventy." Folkestone Hill is 575 feet high, and commands a fine view of the town, and a rich i2 * and extensive prospect over coast and sea. A ridge of cliffs, overhanging a coast road, extends on the one hand to Sand-gate, another ridge of cliffs extends on the other hand all the way to Dover, and these cliffs, besides affording very fine sea views, command in clear weather a distinct prospect of the French coast. The original town was known to the Romans, but has disappeared beneath the-waves, and even the succeeding town dates from remote times, but suffered such ravages by the Danes and the French, and has at different times sustained such damage by the beating of the billows, that it now presents far fewer ancient remains than might have been expected from its antiquity. Roman coins and bricks have been found, pieces of Saxon arms and pottery also have been found, but the extant ancient remains consist merely of traces of building, and can be observed only as shapeless fragments embodied in walls- A Roman watch-tower is believed to have stood on a cliff a short distance S of the present parish church; a castle was built on the same site, about the year 630,. by Eadbald, king of Kent; a nunnery was founded within the castle by Eanswith, daughter of King Eadbald— was ravaged by the Danes, and was afterwards replaced by a Benedictine priory; another castle, for a fortress, was built on the same site, by the Avranches de Abrincis, who became lords of the manor soon after the Norman Conquest; but all these structures, and the very cliff on which they stood, have been swept away by the sea. Part of the area which they occupied is marked by the present Bail-a name corrupted from ballium; a reservoir here, called the Bail Pond— is supplied from a spring which St Eanswith is fabled to have brought hither by a miracle, and a reach of ancient wall still standing on the E side may perhaps be Norman— The Benedictine priory was rebuilt on another site, at a distance of 560 yards, was made a cell to Lonlay Abbey in Normandy, and served for a time to maintain the previous importance of the town by attracting devotees; some slight traces of building, supposed to indicate its site,. are still observable in the parsonage garden. (t Great ruins of a solemn old nunnery," are mentioned by Leiand as existing i— his time; and Roman tiles are said by another writer to have been traceable among these ruins, but all these, both walls and tiles, have vanished. The town, at Domesday, had five churches, and was an honour held by Nigel de Mundeville; but, in spite of its continuing to possess the attraction of Eanswith's priory, it appears to have declined, and after the Reformation it sank into obscurity till toward the end of the 18th century, when it came into notice as a fishing town. But, by the opening of the railway to it, by consequent improvements on its harbour, by the constituting of it a packet station to Boulogne, and by the discovery of its position and environs as eminently suited for seabathing quarters, it has undergone vast change, and is now one of the most frequented and fashionable watering-places on the south-east coast.

The modern town, stretching westward to Sandgate, is laid out with great regularity on top of the cliffs, 133 feet high, protected from north winds by a range of hills, of which the " Castle " and- the " Sugar Loaf " are most conspicuous, and the streets have been planted with trees. The sea front to the edge of the cliffs is occupied by a wide and delightful promenade, laid with turf, called the lt Leas," which affords a splendid view of the English Channel to the French coast. There are two hydraulic lifts from the beach to the Leas. The pier was erected in 1888, and has a very good promenade. At the entrance are gardens beautifully laid out. There is also a pavilion used as a theatre. The harbour has an entrance 123 feet wide. The route to and from the Continent via Folkestone and Boulogne is now much used by all classes of travellers. The sea voyage is scarcely five miles in excess of the distance via Calais and Dover, and the railway journey between the two capitals is lessened by 2 8 miles. The whole journey from London to Paris, or vice versa, can now be accomplished by this route in eight hours. The S.E.R. Company have much improved Folkestone harbour and the packet service, and have infused a spirit of activity into the French authorities and officials, with the result of enlarging Boulogne harbour and adding to the-already increased facilities afforded by the Northern Railway of France.

The town-hall was completed in 1861, stands on a plot of 100 feet by 60, is in the Grecian, style, with both. Corinthian and Ionic features, contains a magistrates' room, a council room, a reading-room, and other apartments, and cost about £12,000. The market is behind the town-hall, and measures 50 feet by 40. The custom-house and the railway station at the harbour are elegant and commodious. The parish church stands on the west cliff overtopping all the town, has an interesting Early English chancel with very high pitched roof, lost great part of its nave by a storm in 1705, presents a defaced appearance in consequence of only a portion of the nave having been built, has a tower between the nave and the chancel, and contains a Later English font, a late decorated altar-tomb to one of the Fiennes family, a monument of the 17th century to John Herdson, and a brass to Joan Harvey, the mother of Dr Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. The church was enlarged and thoroughly restored in 1874. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £380 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Christ Church, serving for a chapelry, constituted in 1851, is an edifice in plain Gothic; it was enlarged in 1885. The living is a vicarage; gross value, £140 with residence. Patron, the Earl of Radnor. A church for mariners and fishermen on the east side of the railway arches was opened in 1862. Two chapelries, called Holy Trinity and St Peter, were constituted in 1868. St John's is a chapelry formed in 1883 from Christ Church. The church is a stone building. The living is a vicarage; gross value, £250 with residence. Patron, the Vicar of Christ Church. St Michael and All Angels Church was built in 1873, and is a red brick building in the Flamboyant style. A Wesleyan chapel, at a cost of £4000, was built in 1866. The Catholic church was erected in 1889 at a cost of £6000, and is a fine building in the Early Gothic style. There are Congregational, Baptist, and Quaker chapels, a literary institute, a dispensary, and reading-rooms and libraries. The chief school is a free grammar school, founded in 1674, and endowed by Sir Eliab Harvey, brother of Dr William Harvey, and rebuilt on a new site in 1882. There are several fine convalescent homes and a large hospital, two masonic halls, a working men's club. Young Men's Christian Association, a public reading-room and library with a museum, a large bathing establishment, a sanatorium for infectious diseases, and some large pleasure gardens, containing exhibition buildings. Radnor Park, to the north-west of the town, covers an area of 20 acres, and was opened as a recreation ground in 1886 by the Earl of Radnor. One of the railway stations is called Radnor Park.

Folkestone has a head post office, two banks, is a seat of sessions, a coastguard station, and publishes two weekly newspapers. Markets are held on Wednesdays and Saturdays. A considerable fishery is carried on, but is not so prosperous as formerly. The number of vessels registered as belonging to the port in 1893 was 17 (3111 tons). The entries and clearances each average 1500 (280,000 tons) pel-annum. The customs revenue in 1893 was £63,250. A lighthouse, with fixed light, was erected in 1810, and has a height of 36 feet. The bathing-grounds afford similar advantages to those of Dover and Ramsgate, with greater seclusion. The climate is salubrious, and the environs and neighbourhood abound with excursion places. The town gives the title of Viscount to the Earl of Radnor. Philpott, the author of "Villare Cantianum," and Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, were natives. The tercentenary memorial to Dr Harvey is situated on the Lees, and consists of a bronze statue of him; the figure, placed on a granite pedestal, was uncovered on 6 August, 1881, by Professor Owen. The manor went from Nigel de Munde-ville to the Avranches, passed to the Crevecoeurs, the Clin-tons, and others, and belongs now to the Earl of Radnor. The Martello tunnel, on the railway, in the vicinity of the" town, is 1908 feet long, and the Foord viaduct of the railway, over the town valley, is 758 feet long.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, Christ Church: baptisms 1851-1912, marriages 1851-1910, burials 1837-1961

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, Holy Trinity: burials 1869-1930

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, Methodist Church: baptisms 1876-1917

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, Quaker: burials 1813-1841

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, SS Mary & Eanswith: baptisms 1538-1912, marriages 1635-1908, burials 1635-1928

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, St John the Baptist: baptisms 1883-1897, marriages 1883-1897, burials 1883-1921

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, St Michael: baptisms 1865-1906, marriages 1882-1908, burials 1898-1919

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, St Peter: baptisms 1868-1912, marriages 1868-1928, burials 1923-1935

Findmypast have the following online for Folkestone, St Saviour: baptisms 1882-1903,

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Folkestone from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Folkestone (St. Mary and St. Eanswith))

Maps

Online maps of Folkestone are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• Dover Express
• Kentish Gazette
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Kentish Chronicle
• Maidstone Telegraph

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.