OtherViewsOfFolkestone

These pictures are some that didn't seem to fit well into other categories. Mind you, I suppose the above two could have been put into the buildings page, but as Lympne is not in Folkestone, I decided it fitted better here.

I love Lympne, and try to visit the castle and/or the church next door each time I go over. I was christened in the church, and also have a nephew buried there. For a while, we lived at Court-at-Street, which is a little village between Lympne and Aldington. Here is a modern photo of it:

1828

2004

Lympne Castle

The cottage we lived in was called 'Seaview', and I believe the one adjoining was called 'The Forge'. Nowadays, both of these cottages have been knocked into one, and probably are worth a small fortune! When we had it, we had no electricity, and the toilet was at the bottom of the garden.

If I have my bearings right, I think the large building with the white walls that you can see in the distance used to be 'The Welcome Stranger' pub, but these days, I think this village is dry.

The photo on the right was taken in 1982 after some work had been done, but am not sure it it had been knocked into one at this point. The garden to the right has gone, and a road put through

A couple of modern photos showing the new Amphitheatre down on the Lower Sandgate Road. I have never been there at the right time to see a play being performed. It is on my 'to do' list.

This is a print that I have over my fireplace. It is called 'Folkestone From the Sea' by J.M.W. Turner - 1775 - 1851. He painted many in and around Folkestone, and loved to depict the smuggling that was going on during his time there. (Actually it is still going on now, but we won't talk about that!)

When I first saw this print, I thought it was of fishermen, but have since discovered that it is in fact smugglers passing booty from boat to boat, while the lookout watches for the customs and excise officers.

A photo of the sea angrily lashing the Victoria Pier.

This is the fairly new memorial at Capel. It was erected to honour those who died in the Battle of Britain.

This was the Dymchurch Redoubt taken in 1907.

I believe redoubts were used as supply depots for the Martello Towers. You can read up on these at this website http://www.dymchurch.org/history/martello.htm This one, along with the one at Eastbourne was built between 1804-1810. It is now owned by the Ministry of Defence.

Pat & Trevor have come up trumps again! They sent me these two pics of the same cottage in Frogholt. The one above was taken by Trevor in 2002, the one on the right was from a painting dated 1925. I believe this cottage has the name of Old Kent Cottage, and was recently on the market for about £325,000.

This area is now home to the Safeway supermarket I believe. But in 1917, when this photograph was taken, it was the Folkestone golf links.

A couple of photos of Holy Well, on the left from 1906 and 1909 on the right. Now, although there must have been a source of water here, what you are looking at is not actually a well, it is a sheep dip, and as you can see, is open on one side. This is what it says about this area in my 1929 Ward Lock Guide:

OK, this is stretching it a little. It is not exactly Folkestone, but it is Boulogne, directly across the channel, and was so interesting, I had to include it.

This postcard was entitled 'The Hour of the Bath' Did they only allow people to bathe at one certain hour? The mind boggles!

Here is an old one of the church at Lympne, mentioned above. Do you know how they keep the grass mowed between the gravestones? They use sheep! Again, somewhere in my big box of photos, I have a modern one of this church, showing the sheep hard at work!!

An old and modern view of Saltwood Castle. The first castle was built in 488, probably on a Roman site, but was replaced by a 12th century Norman structure which was extended throughout the next 2 centuries. It was rendered uninhabitable in 1580 by an earthquake but was restored in the 19th century, since then, the tall gatehouse has been used as a residence.

And here is a charming photo of Saltwood itself, taken in 1915. Same year my mother was being born over in Etchinghill.

The Folkestone Zoo was actually called Pet's Corner, and I have been hunting for a photo of it, without any luck. So have borrowed one from Alan Taylor's latest (in 2005) book called Images of England, Folkestone Volume 11.

I highly recommend this book, he not only has three photos of Pet's Corner, but also has one of the little steam train that ran alonside the Lower Sandgate Road from 1947 to about 1952.

Alan says in his book that Pet's Corner opened in May 1947 on the seaside of the Lower Sandgate Road between the Leas Lift and Leas Cliff Hall. It closed sometime between 1958 and 1960. I do remember this zoo very well, in fact a friend of my older sister worked there.

Isn't that lamb drinking from a bottle adorable?

An old engraving of Radnor Bridge.

It looks very rural in this picture doesn't it? Nowadays, it spans the branch railway line to the harbour. The trains run underneath the centre arch, the Tram Road under the western arch and Dyke road under the eastern arch. Is it still this ornate? I don't know.

I do hope those two people moved away before a train went under, they would have had a face full of soot and steam!.

Another old photo. This time we have Seabrook looking East towards Sandgate.

Still in Seabrook, you are looking at The Canal, which I imagine is the Hythe Canal. The Royal Military Canal starts somewhere in Seabrook and runs down to Pett Level in East Sussex.

The swans on this portion of it certain added to the ambience didn't it?

A lovely clear picture of Horn Street, Seabrook. If I have my bearings right, this road continues on up the hill you can see in the background, and comes out in Cheriton.

I wish we knew how much that house sold for on the left. I bet it would make us weep to compare it to today's prices!

Curiously, this very old card has it listed as Frog Halt. Was it really called this once upon a time?

I received this answer from Lorraine Sansom who was living in Old Kent Cottage at the time (I think she might have moved now): "It absolutely was once named Frog Halt. It was named this because of a Frog crossing area not far from here where each year the frogs are collected by volunteers and taken across a very busy road to the safety of their breeding ground.

Both of these were taken in the 60's. On the left is Dymchurch sands, and on the right is the Dr. Syn Restaurant, which of course was named after the famous smuggler. When I took my granddaughter to Folkestone for her first visit (age 11), I took her for a ride down to Dymchurch on the little railway. On Dymchurch sands, she had her first look at some seaside donkeys. She was terribly upset at the kind of life they lead, walking round and round in circles for hours on end in the summer heat, and when not giving rides, were tethered with nothing to look at but the side of a van, and said she would NEVER want to ride on one and make their life even worse. That's my girl! I agreed with her 100%

Moving further down the coast, we have Littlestone on the left and Greatstone on the right.

When we were kids, and living in Littlestone, we would come down here with an old tin bath and try to use it as a boat. I think our best time to keep upright was 5 seconds!

At the top of The Avenue from Littlestone is New Romney, and on the left we see how it looked in 1910 compared with the way it looks now on the right. So do you think those double yellow lines add anything? No, nor do I.

I don't have dates for either of these, but we have Station Road Lyminge and Lyminge Church. My Uncle Charlie & Auntie Agnes Richards lived all their married life in Lyminge. I think their address was 1 Well Cottages. They have both passed on now.

Anyone who knows Paddlesworth knows about the Cat. The pub is actually called The Red Lion, but it has been known as The Cat and Custard Pot, shortened to The Cat.

Now to something Kent used to be famous for, its hop picking! Every summer people from inland would spend a working holiday picking hops. They would have a change of scenery and get paid for it too! Here are some photos.

1906

1907

1905

1906

Unloading hops at Paddock Wood

Whitbread Hop Gardens - Paddock Wood

The round buildings with the cowls on top are called oast houses which were used for drying the hops. At one time, Kent had over thirty thousand acres devoted to the growing of hops to make beer. Hops are still grown in Kent, but I believe these days the picking of them is fully mechanised.

Back to Folkestone, and this card was entitled 'The Bombing of the Speed Boat' which was put on for entertainment during the summer. Apparently it was the job of the pilot to drop 1/2 lb bags of flour onto the speedboat, but he seldom managed a direct hit due to the manoeuvrability of the boat.

Here we have The Grange cricket ground on the left, and the Indoor Bowls Centre on the right.

This was a steamroller accident which took place in Sandgate Road on March 4th 1911. I don't think anyone was hurt, but the steamroller didn't feel too well afterwards!

It went out of control, and careered into the East Kent Arms. I didn't know steamrollers drank, did you?

This Russian submarine used to be on display at Folkestone Harbour.

It was the Black Widow U475, code name Foxtrot. Last I heard, it had been moved to Rochester.

Another old one, 1908 in fact, and what you are looking at this time is the reservoir where Folkestone still gets its water.

They must have been very proud of it, because they made many postcards of it.

Ok, so I couldn't resist putting this one up! Ha ha ha!!

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Likewise, behind the cottage, the garden has mostly gone, and there is some kind of equipment business in it's place.

The woman standing with a child is my sister and niece, they were visiting from Canada, and went to look at the old homestead!

Capel 1907, and the road was flooded!

Still in Capel-le-Ferne, here we have an old photo, complete with cattle of the Valiant Sailor

This sketch was done by Caromin Louw who sent it to me. You are a very talented lady Caromin! Thank you!

'In the smooth and curiously marked hollow behind the Sugar Loaf is St. Thomas's Well, or the Holy Well, screened by a clump of trees, where pilgrims passing along the adjoining highway to the shrine of Thomas à Becket at Canterbury were accustomed to turn aside to slake their thirst. Henry 11 himself is said to have rested here when on his way to do penance at the shrine of the "holy, blissful martyr." '

A recent photo of a couple of oast houses. These days, many of them have been converted into very expensive homes.

Now here is a motley crew if I ever saw one! Actually, I am not quite sure which school this was, but my mother was the 5th child from the right, seated on the ground. She lived in Etchinghill, so imagine the school was somewhere nearby. I would hope it was a play or something, and that this wasn't their school uniforms! I would guess that she was around 5 at the time, which would date this photo around 1920.

You mean there was a busy road there when this picture was taken Lorraine? I am surprised!

On the left is Ivy Cottage, Saltwood. I wonder if all those children belonged to that lady? They used to have one per year throughout their childbearing years in those days - no birth control. On the right is Saltwood church.

An exterior and interior shot of Lyminge Church, I don't have a date for the one on the left, but the interior dates from 1892

Another church photo from 1892. This time it is New Romney

Cullen's Hill Elham

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This page updated February 2/09

This aerial shot was just sent to me from a blast from my own past. Peter Hogben, a friend of my step-father, Darkie Blackford reminded me of the days we were involved in grasstrack racing (my stepfather more than me-I was more interested in gawping at the good looking riders!)

This shot is of Rhodes Minnis that was used by the Folkestone M.C. Club in the 60's and 70's. The black part is trees. They had a good turnout that day didn't they? Thanks Peter!

Mark Cadier, who started a page on Facebook called 'Legends of Folkestone', posted the above photo of the hidden cemetery on Bradstone Road. He kindly allowed me to use it here, and I wanted to know more about it, so wrote to my guru Alan Taylor, who as always did not let me down.

He sent me an even better photograph of it, along with an article written by Eamonn Rooney. I urge you to click HERE to find out more about this fascinating burial ground, and to discover why it is up so high off the ground level.