FolkestoneThen&Now

A nostalgic look at my home town. How it was in the days of my ancestors, and how it looks now in the 2000's.

In its heyday, Folkestone was THE place to go. It was a resort with class, and the gentry would spend their holidays taking the air along the Leas - where the ordinary people were forbidden to go.

Nowadays, more people spend their vacations abroad, so Folkestone, along with many other seaside towns has had to learn to do without such a large tourist trade.

The main industry here has always been the fishing, and it is still possible to go down to the cobbled harbour and watch the fishing boats come in.

In the olden days, you could spend many an hour watching the cross channel steamers coming and going, but the Channel Tunnel has taken its toll on the ferry trade, the Hovercraft and the Seacat, and now in 2007 they are not running from Folkestone. There was talk of bringing them back, but it looks less and less likely.

Latest updated pages:
People - April 12/08
Cheriton - April 6/08
Military & Wartime - Nov 25/07
Other Views - Sept 9/07
Aerial Views - Sept 4/07
Hawkinge (New Page)- Sept 3/07
Rotunda & Pool - Sept 3/07
Hythe - Sept 2/07
Tollgate - August 30/07
Cliff Lifts - August 16/07
Walks & Paths - August 13/07

I haven't put the photographs in any kind of order, leaving it possible to add more as I get them without having to revamp the whole page each time. So you will find they jump from the very old to the new and back again. I have added the date to the photo if I know it. In most cases, it was the date that the postcard was mailed, not when the actual photograph was taken.

I have had a lot of input from people who have helped me get my facts straight, but if you see any errors or omissions, please drop me a line and let me know.

A man who has put me right on many things has been Folkestone historian Alan Taylor, whose knowledge I trust completely. Alan has written many books on Folkestone, and you can see (and order) his latest book, 'Folkestone Past & Present', by clicking HERE.

He is also President of the Folkestone & District Local History Society, and they have produced three fabulous DVD's of old Folkestone entitled 'Memories Of Folkestone'. Details of this can be found HERE.
I have each of these, and highly recommend them!

Some of the photos on these pages are of poor quality, some of it is due to age, and some is due to the fact that on my old website I had them considerably smaller, and have not had time to rescan them as yet, so they look quite pixelly in this larger format.

I wrote most of the above a few years ago, when Folkestone was pretty depressing to look at. However, each time I have visited in recent years, I have noticed it slowly but surely pulling itself back together, and with the help of one of its more well-known residents, I really think it has a very bright future. Check out this article in The Times