Thanks for visiting my website. Please leave your comments...
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| Name |
Comments |
| 116) |
David Snow  |
Location:
Lisboa Portugal |
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 Thursday 14:24
Marvellous site.
Christine Thursday 20:22
Thank you David! 
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| 115) |
David Cooper |
Location:
Suffolk |
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Thursday, 17 August 2017 14:24
Interested to find this site, I live in Cheriton 1950-1970. Was wondering about 26 Grimston Gardens as being an address referred to on a birth certificate. I know we never lived there - was it a nursing/birth unit before it became a language school?
So sad to see the open air swimming pool closed and concreted, I can remember swimming there in October!
David
Mark Hourahane Saturday, 2 September 2017 12:07
That's quite an easy one... the School of English Studies had three properties - Flowergate, .
From 1950, Flowergate Nursing Home occupied number 26. Whilst SES started in 1957, they moved into the building in the 1960s, with the home still there at first. Consequently, it retained the name Flowergate. I can't remember the exact date offhand... around 1968, I believe.
Someone lived there whilst the nursing home was there, who had an OBE. I forget the name, though!
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Mark Hourahane Saturday, 2 September 2017 16:04
Sorry, part of the message went missing... the school started in Flowergate in 1963 and expanded to include the two neighbouring properties - Middle House and Henry House.
The chap who lived in Flowergate was Edwin Herbert Edlin, OBE... and I believe that he was promoted to CBE in 1962. He was Director of Finance for the Ministry of Transport.
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David Sunday, 3 September 2017 10:02
Thank you Mark. I have a vague memory that mum was away for a short while and came back with a baby brother. That would have been in September 57.
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| 114) |
Lyn Christiensen  |
Location:
Ivybridge, Devon |
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Monday, 31 July 2017 14:48
I spent 6 very happy years in Folkestone as a boarder at Brampton Down School, to this day, I still think of the town as home. It was without doubt the loveliest town I have ever lived in.
Lyn Christiensen Monday, 31 July 2017 14:51
Forgot to say between 1963 and 1969
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| 113) |
Caroline Brenchley |
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Sunday, 30 July 2017 00:20
Hello
My family are folkestoners going back many generations (grand-fathers side) my question comes from my uncle he recalls a bakery on Dover road.. could have been called "miles and sons" does anyone recall this bakery? My nan was a Miles and her father originally was a bakers assistant in Canterbury (census records)( john marsh miles)at some point this side of my family moved to Folkestone. I have searched photos online and records but cannot find the bakery. Any information would be gratefully received for my family tree. Thank you
Mark Hourahane Saturday, 2 September 2017 11:40
143 was a bakery for many years... I can trace it back to the 1890s as part of the Grove End Hotel which became York Hotel. It then became 2 Grove Houses, remaining a bakery. Various bakers occupied it, including H. J Offen as Grove Bakery until 1913, E. Hopper & Sons in 1915 and H. Pope from 1916-1923, when it got numbered 143. He stayed until 1937, then Horace Hopper took over from 1938 until, it seems, 1939 or 1940.
There's a gap in information during the war, but John M. Miles occupied it with Hilda, John R. and Mary E. Miles in 1946. John M. and Mary were still there in 1947, when it was listed in Kelly's Directory. They were not in the Electoral Roll for 1948, nor were they there in 1945.
It was taken over by W. Bolton in 1949, who ran it until 1958. In 1960, it became C. A. Phillips (along with 145), a confectioner. The next directory, 1962, has Phillips in 145 only, with 143 being T. M. Saunders electrical engineer & contractor. He remained until 1973, then it became E. R. & J. Bates builders in 1974. If the numbering is the same now, it's the leftmost shop of the block with Londis.
In short, they ran it for a small time after the war.
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| 112) |
Chris Cooper-Slipper |
Location:
Toronto |
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Thursday, 27 July 2017 17:20
Your history page on Hawkinge is amazing. My father, Michael, served as a pilot there from May 22 -May 26 with RAF 605 flying Hurricanes during the evacuation of the BEF from Dunkirk.
Paul Seward Friday, 28 July 2017 11:32
Well worth Googling this brave gentleman. You barely scratched at the surface of his fascinating history, Chris. Guess the modesty is hereditary!
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Christine - site owner Friday, 28 July 2017 12:04
My word, he certainly is worth Googling! I just read the obituary of Michael Cooper-Slipper, and he was quite a hero during the second world war, and then became involved with the doomed Avro Arrow in Canada, my husband, who was in the RCAF, was still angry with the government about the cancellation of that aircraft to the day he died. [ www.telegraph.co.uk]
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| 111) |
Margaret Gabbe nee Michell |
Location:
Near Canterbury |
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Saturday, 8 July 2017 11:32
My grandfather Frank Michell was a drapery assistant in a shop possibly Tontine Street,. My dad used to talk about bombing when he would've been a small boy.id love to find out which shop it was.
Christine - Website owner Monday, 10 July 2017 00:37
If it was in Tontine Street Margaret, the shop could have been Gosnold's, which was badly bombed drapery shop. However, I don't see your Grandfather's name on the list of killed or injured, so if that was the shop, I can only assume he wasn't working that day.
There is an account of the Air Raid here: [ www.warrenpress.net] and a list of the injured here: [ freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com]
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| 110) |
Jo |
Location:
Southend on Sea |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 06:36
My nan, Lily Milton, was injured in the Gotha Bomber raid. She had just turned 16 on May 11 and was working in Gosnolds as an assistant. She was buried under a pile of rubble and bodies and her nose was broken among other injuries. The manager of the store paid for her to go to a convalescent home, where I believe he also went, as she had some psychological injuries too. When she was in her 80s a German man proposed to her at her sheltered accommodation. She was highly indignant at the cheek of the "Hun"!
Christine - Site owner Monday, 10 July 2017 00:43
I imagine her psychological injuries took a lot longer to heal than her physical ones. How nice that her employer paid for her recovery though, with no NHS back then, medical bills were quite expensive.
I chuckled at her proposal reaction, I guess if you have lived through that, you would never get over the hatred of the enemy.
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| 109) |
Jo |
Location:
Southend on Sea |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 05:52
I do feel the town has been badly let down by the destruction of the Rotunda and the failure to use that space. Here in Southend our old Kursaal was demolished and became housing, Never Never Land closed, the pier burned down, and Peter Pan's playground languished. Things looked bad.
We now have Adventure Island, a thoroughly modern, well run popular "fun fair" and if only the same could be done at Folkestone it would revitalise your tourist industry. That is a huge waste of a site. As a little kid I loved visiting the Rotunda
Christine - Site owner Monday, 10 July 2017 00:51
A lot of work is going on currently on the site of the Rotunda, and it will run from the harbour right round to what is now the Lower Leas Coastal Park, formerly the Lower Sandgate Road. However, there is no funfair in the plans, it will mostly be accommodation, shops and restaurants. I think we all loved the Rotunda, and miss it, but with no ferries, and people finding cheap holidays abroad where the weather is more guaranteed, they have had to accept the tourist industry will never be what it was, and will now be aiming for a different market, e.g. people living in Folkestone and commuting each day to London on the fast train for work.
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| 108) |
Jo |
Location:
Southend on Sea Essex |
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Wednesday, 28 June 2017 05:46
I last used the Zig Zag path in the 1970s.You need to know where to look. Unfortunately the sign now says "access to viewing point only". I have a feeling the path became dangerous and is now out of use. The tea house path is an entirely different route
ken white . Tuesday, 18 July 2017 12:44
back in the late 40s we used it as a quite way to the beach. also for courting.
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| 107) |
Lesley Fakley (Fordham) |
Location:
Ferndown, Dorset |
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Tuesday, 27 June 2017 14:07
I lived in Folkestone from 1950 to 1975.I went to St. Nicholas Preparatory School, in Wiltie Gardens, Miss Squire was the Headmistress. I then went to Holywell and Folkestone College.
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| 106) |
Dale Komander |
Location:
Germany |
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Tuesday, 30 May 2017 07:39
Hello, I have just found your site and will earmark it for later! You have one photo of the School of Musketry with a row of houses to the right. Of course (and sadly) the SofM is no longer there, but the houses (Military Terrace, built mid-1800s) are still going strong. I believe they're now listed buildings. My mother lived in one of them up to her death in 1998. I know Hythe well as I used to live there (1960s) and when mum moved there again in 1986 we used to spend a lot of time there, so I'm thrilled to see these photos, many thanks!
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| 105) |
Tracey |
Location:
Hertfordshire |
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Monday, 29 May 2017 19:52
Hi Christine,
Found your site while researching my paternal grandfathers sister and family Leonard & Rosina Netherton nee Howard, I discovered lived in the Old Aerodrome Buildings, Dymchurch Road, West Hythe on the 1930 Electoral Register. Rosina died in 1931. The next mention of him and the airfield was in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald 04 February 1933 which noted that a Possession Order had been served on January 24th by the Council who declared it unfit for human habitation. By 1939 widowed Leonard was living with his single step daughter Rosina and another widowed lady called Emily Mount in Sunrise Cottage, Burmarsh Road which I found on Google Streetview although suspect the property has had some adaptions since then!
I was unable to find any information or photographs about the Dymchurch airfield on your site and thought you and readers might like to see what I found online about the old place. There is some interesting information at Pastscape
[ www.pastscape.org.uk]
and photographs of the airfield at the Kent History Forum.
[ www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk]
I would love to hear from any descendants of the Nethertons or anyone who has information on the family and why they lived on the old airfield.
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| 104) |
Tracey |
Location:
Hertfordshire |
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Monday, 29 May 2017 19:49
Hi Christine,
Found your site while researching my paternal grandfathers sister and family Leonard & Rosina Netherton nee Howard, I discovered lived in the Old Aerodrome Buildings, Dymchurch Road, West Hythe on the 1930 Electoral Register. Rosina died in 1931. The next mention of him and the airfield was in the Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald 04 February 1933 which noted that a Possession Order had been served on January 24th by the Council who declared it unfit for human habitation. By 1939 widowed Leonard was living with his single step daughter Rosina and another widowed lady called Emily Mount in Sunrise Cottage, Burmarsh Road which I found on Google Streetview although suspect the property has had some adaptions since then!
I was unable to find any information or photographs about the Dymchurch airfield on your site and thought you and readers might like to see what I found online about the old place. There is some interesting information at Pastscape
[ www.pastscape.org.uk]
and photographs of the airfield at the Kent History Forum.
[ www.kenthistoryforum.co.uk]
I would love to hear from any descendants of the Nethertons or anyone who has information on the family and why they lived on the old airfield.
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| 103) |
Amanda |
Location:
Toronto |
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Thursday, 4 May 2017 06:17
Just to add to previous message lol I went to st eanswyths had my pic in the paper for the harvest festival pointing at a marrow!! My grandfather is buried in the rose garden across the street in the church went back a couple of yrs ago Folkestone has changed but the memories never will loved the seaside and the caves on the beach getting the #@*%!les in bags with some vinegar 99 icereams on our way to the beach great memories and going on the ferry for day trips to le harve
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| 102) |
Amanda |
Location:
Toronto |
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Thursday, 4 May 2017 06:10
My grandparents had the Clarendon Hotel on tontine street spent many a happy summers there
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| 101) |
wingmandusty |
Location:
Folkestone |
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Tuesday, 25 April 2017 12:55
I Have been in Folkestone all my Life and Love looking at Past Photo's
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| 100) |
Sonia Warren |
Location:
Courtenay, BC, Canada |
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Saturday, 1 April 2017 20:21
Wonderful website. I grew up in Folkestone before moving to Canada. My family were all from Folkestone. I've been researching our family and found my GGgran mother at 1 Battery Terrace in the 1881 Census but I can not find any trace of this road. Was it by The Bayle?
Paul Seward Sunday, 2 April 2017 09:16
It looks like it, Sonia. Bayle Terrace was to the north of the town ditch, which ran into the Bayle Pond.
From the Folkestone Herald 23.08.30
"About The Bayle Gun. When the Corporation men dug up the old Shakespeare gun (Guildhall Street specimen), and was discovered it dated back to the aforesaid Tudor period a squad of excavators cast their eyes on the “gun” which was placed on The Bayle. But soon after the pickaxes set to work the Lady of the Priory (the late Mrs. Napier Sturt), through a representative, caused the work to stopped. The gun stood, and still stands on private property. Had this not been the case the piece of ordnance would probably have had a place amongst the old iron at the dust destructor. But stay. Perhaps this particular gun was once included in the armament of the Battery, which once had place on The Bayle. This battery, the site of it. is still in existence. Hence Battery Terrace and Battery Gardens."
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Sonia Warren Sunday, 2 April 2017 10:01
Thanks for the info Paul. I'll have to see if I can find an old map on-line. It's been fun tracing the family history through Folkestone and looking at the streets now and still finding the houses the family lived in. Can't find any trace of them in 1891. But the search will continue.
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Mark Hourahane Sunday, 2 April 2017 10:10
You won't find a map to that scale online, Sonia... because you're looking for a row of houses, not a road. There's a 50 feet to the mile OS map that's quite old in the library - that'll have your terrace. I will check next time I'm there.
I suspect it is where Bayle Court is now in Bayle Parade. That was marked as "Misn. Ho." on the 1907 25 inches to the mile OS map.
It is definitely on The Bayle as there's reference to it online.
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Paul Seward Sunday, 2 April 2017 15:37
Herald - 16.11.1907 :- Leasehold houses for sale by Banks and son 28,32,34 and 38 The Bayle - formerly Battery Terrace
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Christine Tuesday, 4 April 2017 13:48
Hi Sonia, Mark has been doing a little sleuthing for us, and has come up with these pics, first showing Battery Terrace on a map, then showing the row of houses as it is today. We are not sure if the building itself has been replaced, and I do feel it had to have been longer originally, as we have found addresses from No. 1 to about 38, but this is the site of Battery Terrace, although it is possible it was once on both sides of the street. (I had to put it onto a web page, because each time I tried to post the pictures here, it accused me of using a bad word!) [ www.warrenpress.net]
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Sonia Warren (nee Johnson) Thursday, 6 April 2017 20:50
Wow! Thank you so much guys for your sleuthing and pictures. Very much appreciated. So interesting to be able to put the pieces together. The family moved from Battery Terrace to The Bayle, Thanet Gardens, Peter Street, Dallas Brett Cres then my home at Brabner Close. I wish I had started this when my parents were alive. My Dad played for Folkestone FC too. Makes me want to come home for another visit. Is it possible to get copies of the the pictures and map on the website?
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Mark Hourahane Sunday, 30 April 2017 15:01
As you may have heard, my original thoughts were incorrect. Battery Terrace runs from the pond to the corner opposite the British Lion.
It's possible they were there when the change occurred, so The Bayle address and the Battery Terrace address are one and the same. It is now 28-40 The Bayle, numbered evenly (I guess two of them had been sold in Paul's discovered announcement above).
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Mark Hourahane Sunday, 30 April 2017 15:05
By the way, the map is the 50 inches to the mile map in the library upstairs. It's in the left cabinet.
You can ask them to copy an A4 section for 10p, although it'll just be on a photocopier so not that great a copy. They're huge, old maps... so a little awkward to get on the photocopier! As you can see, it's right on the edge of one sheet.
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| 99) |
ken white |
Location:
wasagabeach ontario canada |
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Friday, 10 March 2017 10:03
HI.WE LIVED IN CHERITON FROM 1939 TO 1965 MAUREEN BAILEY WAS MY WIFE HAD TWO KIDS. I WENT TO MOREHALL AND SHE WENT TO HARCOURT SCHOOL.I USED TO WORK ON RAILWAY AT THE JUNCTION
caroline smith Friday, 10 March 2017 13:49
I did see the ebay photo, but it was after the sale had ended, contacted the seller to see if I could buy it as it was unsold but didn't hear back, which is a shame. With regards to the garden, unfortunately when we bought it, it was so overgrown we had to have 28 trees cut down and clear everything except trees with TPO's, give me a few years and I promise I will start to make it look like a garden again! Still renovating the house....its taking some time!! Two years in, hopefully be finished by the end of this year.
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| 98) |
Caroline Smith |
Location:
Sandgate |
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Tuesday, 7 March 2017 23:58
I have recently moved to Sandgate, into a house called Leas Crag, Radnor Cliff Crescent. Have been trying to find out some history on it but can’t find anything other than it was built by Otto Marx in the early 1930’s.
My house runs along the footpath; ending from Radnor Cliff Crescent up to The Leas. Its the footpath where the old tram used to run from Sandgate Hill which closed around the end of the second world war if that helps.
Be great if anyone has any history for me.
Paul Seward Wednesday, 8 March 2017 05:46
A good place to start is with the Deeds of your property. Leas Crag was built for Alderman R.G. Wood, sometime Mayor of Folkestone. He was, ex officio, a Justice of the Peace and the proprietor of a Gents' Outfitters at the top end of Tontine Street.
The house was built in the southwest corner of a Sports Ground stretching all the way to the Metropole. It incorporated a nine-hole golf course. The railway ran from the end of the Leas on the opposite side of the path. The bridge abutments on Radnor Cliff Crescent are still in situ.
All I can find out from the local paper is that he had trouble with the heron visiting the pond at the bottom of your garden. From personal memory I believe that the property may have offered residential accommodation to elderly people in the early 70s.
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Christine- website owner Wednesday, 8 March 2017 08:35
That's great Paul, I had nothing on that house. Seems to me I remember R.G. Wood, and the shop, do you know the years he was in office? I was looking at the area on Google Street View yesterday, and was looking closely at those abutments, they almost look like castle walls. I didn't know that the railway had gone across a bridge there. I love days when I learn more about my home town - thank you, and thank you Caroline for asking the question.
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Paul Seward Wednesday, 8 March 2017 11:47
R G Wood - Mayor of Folkestone 1935-41, followed by George Gurr. I should have made clear that the Sports Ground had the Golf Course and not the house! The course was roughly where Cliff Road is now. Good pix on Britain from Above.
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Christine Wednesday, 8 March 2017 12:12
Oh, then I don't remember him, I am not quite that old! I have come across his name many times though.
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caroline smith Thursday, 9 March 2017 16:15
I am so delighted that you have some news on my house, thats the first bit of information that I have managed to receive! My husband is delighted, yet sad that there was a golf course at the rear of the house, but not longer there!! Have tried to find deeds but they no longer exist. Also, there is a strange concrete bunker about four feet to the side of the house, have asked structural engineers, architects, the council, we are all bemused, even a friend of mine who is very interested in strange structures......no one can work it out! Be great if anyone has any ideas, almost looks like a pigsty but walls are very thick and have a ramp leading up to the?? Am so delighted that I have heard back from you, thank you so so much!!
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Christine Thursday, 9 March 2017 22:29
I believe Wood Avenue was named after R G Wood wasn't it Paul?
No idea about the bunker, does it have a top on it? Is it big enough for people to get inside? Wondering if he had his own air raid shelter built.
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caroline smith Friday, 10 March 2017 11:17
HI Christine, Yes, the bunker/pigsty has a roof, and room for about ten people, so long as they crouch down! I absolutely love this site, both you and Paul have been so helpful, I finally have some history for the house! Thank you, be great if there is any more info out there!
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Christine Friday, 10 March 2017 13:32
Looking again at that listing, it appears the photo didn't sell, so if you are interested, you might still be able to buy it if you contact the seller. The listing is here: [ www.ebay.co.uk]
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caroline smith Friday, 10 March 2017 14:02
caroline smith 11 minutes ago
I did see the ebay photo, but it was after the sale had ended, contacted the seller to see if I could buy it as it was unsold but didn't hear back, which is a shame. With regards to the garden, unfortunately when we bought it, it was so overgrown we had to have 28 trees cut down and clear everything except trees with TPO's, give me a few years and I promise I will start to make it look like a garden again! Still renovating the house....its taking some time!! Two years in, hopefully be finished by the end of this year
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Paul Seward Sunday, 12 March 2017 16:40
Wood Avenue indeed named after Alderman R.G. Wood in a similar gesture as George Gurr Crescent, Penfold Road and others. I'm very interested in Caroline's mention of a bunker as I know that there is a similar construction not far away. More anon on that one.
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Paul Seward Friday, 17 March 2017 13:07
Having visited the bunker I reckon that it is an air raid shelter. It has a six-inch thick concrete roof, with the entrance facing the house. Being built on sloping ground, Leas Crag was probably not suitable for an Anderson. The construction close by has been blocked off but I have arranged with the owner to open it up again at some stage. It is boarded up at the end but the accessible sides are constructed of railway sleeper interspersed with brick, so probably another homemade shelter.
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Christine Friday, 17 March 2017 13:25
Thank you for checking this Paul, it's so nice to be proved right! 
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| 97) |
David Connolly |
Location:
Canberra Australia |
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Tuesday, 7 March 2017 03:35
Greetings from sunny Canberra in Australia. My connection with Folkestone started in 1956 when my family moved to Cheriton (RMA) from Australia. I attended Sir John Moore Primary School and benefitted greatly from the dedicated teachers like Mrs Clayton, Ms Hollis and Mr Elsemore. Two of my siblings and their families remain residents in the area. After leaving Primary School in 1961, I attended Brockhill CSS in Saltwood until 1966. I have many fond memories of this school especially travelling to school by steam train from Folkestone West to Sandling. Jack Setterfield was the Principal at the time. (more memories to follow).
Christopher Jack Cooper Sunday, 2 July 2017 17:28
My grandfather was Jack Setterfield! Thought you might be interested.
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