From the Folkestone Herald Published 15 June 2000
Cheers lads!
IT WAS nice to see another new book about Folkestone land on my desk at the
Folkestone office last week. Very well Illustrated it is a credit to the co-authors Martin Easdown and Eamonn Rooney, both writers of previous books
on old Folkestone.
And for those who buy one of the first 100 copies there is in fact a
bonus - a second booklet of 46 pages listing all the known licensees of the
town's public houses dating back to 1525! Again the same two writers have
co-operated in producing
the book which will not be sold in the shops. The covers of both books are
illustrated above.
Tales from the Tap Room - with the sub-title “An Anthology of Folkestone’s
Public Houses and Breweries’ - is beautifully printed by A.R. Adams & Sons,
of Dour
Street, Dover. Publishers are Marlin Publications, of Seabrook and, with 192
pages and 188 photographs on fine art paper the limited edition book of 500
copies is priced at £12.50.
Shops publication date is June 19 but copies may be obtained in advance
direct from the publisher at Hampton Vale, Seabrook, on 01303 230202.
The authors acknowledge that the ‘template’ for the book and their general
interest in the pubs and breweries of Folkestone was Dr C.H. Bishop’s book
Old Folkestone Pubs, published in 1979 and long out of print.
That book, by an author who also produced an attractive book on the town's
history, revealed just how many old inns and public houses had disappeared
through the years and the two writers determined to try and find out more
about them.
They seem to have done a good job but say they would welcome more pictures
and information. They can be contacted through Marlin Publications.
Martin and Eamonn particularly want to thank the many people who lent
photographs and other material for the book and they are acknowledged in the
introduction to the book.
Due to restrictions on space they chose to concentrate on those pubs in
the broadly central area of town. Therefore more pictures and information on
pubs in Cheriton, Shorncliffe, Uphill, Morehall and Sandgate have been held
over to join with those of Hythe in a planned second volume, for which I
have no doubt the writers would welcome offers of more material.
The original "Black Bull" pub, and some customers in the 1870s.
Above the original "Red Cow" scene on the 1860s, now has a modern
extension. Originally in the separate village of Ford, the old "Red Cow" in
1860. The towns oldest pub in its original building, accept, maybe, for the
"British Lion," it is believed to have opened in 1682, but it has, of
course, be much altered.
Above a charabanc stands in front of the "Wonder Tavern" at Seagate
Street, in 1912 while the rarely pictured "South Foreland" is behind it.
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1900
Boer War heroes cheered but memorial took time!
MAFEKING and the relief of Ladysmith, as British Forces got
the upper hand In the Boer War, were still a talking point In the town a
century ago but It was 1924 before the Earl of Ypres, Lt-General Sir J.
French, unveiled the memorial tablet In the Town Hall to the local men
of the East Kent Yeomanry and Volunteers who fought in the Boer War from
1899 to 1902. They included the East Kent Mounted Rifles commanded by
Lord Harris. And Herald writer Felix, writing In 1924, said he
personally recalled the emotion of the homecoming from South Africa,
aboard the steamer Avondale Castle, of the gallant men ‘D’ Company of The
Buffs, led by Colonel Graham Gosling and of picking out the individual
soldiers from the Southampton dock quayside. He, with the then Herald
photographer Mr A Gibson, handed out copies of the latest Herald to the
men giving details of arrangements made to celebrate their homecoming
and joined them for the train journey to Canterbury. It was rather
prematurely anticipated the Boer War would soon be over (trouble went on
until 1902) but a new threat to peace lay ahead and seemed likely to
embroil British troops - in China.
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1925
Ghostly goings on at the old Ashley Grange house.
A WELL known builder called Peel, of Marier Road, Cheriton, had a
shock while Inspecting the progress of demolition of Ashley Grange,
Cheriton. He told a Herald staff reporter he visited the building after
staff had left and, In the basement he said: “I turned my gaze towards
the fireplace and, to put it mildly, was astounded to see a lady
standing close to the kitchener (stove.) She seemed to have a kind but
sad expression, but did not open her lips. She just kept up a steady
stare. I can’t express what I felt, but it put the wind up me for quite
a time. I walked backwards step by step, the motionless figure still
staring until, suddenly, it vanished.” Mr Peel said he kept this to
himself for a while because he thought people would laugh and tell him
to take more water with his scotch! “Then my friend Mr Stocker on me
about the Grange and told him; ‘I expect you will laugh at me If I tell
you of an experience I had at the Grange. I was coming down the stairs
of the Grange after looking round. I looked up suddenly and saw a lady
standing on a landing of the staircase. Then, In a flash, she
disappeared. I don’t want to go down to the old building again! The
Herald said Ashley Grange had been known to be haunted for years and a
tale of murder had been woven around the place.
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1950
Local man dies in crash as Meteor engine fails.
FAILURE of one of the engines of a Meteor jet fighter of No. 1
Squadron RAF caused the death of airman Richard William Dixon, 21, of
Stanford near Folkestone, when the plane crashed at Westhampnett,
Sussex. He was on target practice over Selsey when the breakdown
occurred and his plane went into a spin only three-quarters of a mile
from Tangmere aerodrome. The military tattoo, formerly a big feature of
Hythe Cricket Week, following the Venetian Fete, was due to be revived on
the cricket ground. Local clubs were busy collecting for a fund to
provide a lift at the Bruce Porter Homo, East Cliff. The go-ahead for
the scheme was given by the Dr Barnardo Homes following the success of
earlier efforts. Tontine Street Congregational Church, closed since
August for repairs, was re-dedicated after renovation and BBC organist
Reginald Foort played the organ at the service and at a fund-raising
recital afterwards. Wing Commander T.A.F. Elsdon, who flew in the Battle
of Britain, gaining the DFC, was married at Hawkinge to Iris Jean
Dawson, who had been Officer Commanding the WRAF Cadet Training Wing at
Hawkinge. Folkestone magistrates rejected objections to a Town Council
plan for a car on the Leas on land offered bv Lord Radnor.
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1975
Chief Constable defends ‘hunting’ traffic wardens.
THE Chief Constable for Kent stepped in to defend traffic
wardens after the local chamber of trade claimed they were too quick to
pounce on motorists and that they ‘hunted in pairs.’ Barry Pain branded
the chamber's comment as “irresponsible and unfounded.” Local Liberals
were urging Shepway Council to cooperate with squatters to ease the desperate housing shortage, and to allow the families temporary use of
empty properties. They were following the party's national campaign and
the lead already given by some London boroughs. But the idea did not
extend to squatters occupying property soon to be put back into use
after improvements, nor to encourage people to jump the housing list.
Dissatisfied hoteliers broke away from the Shepway Hotels Association.
Fourteen of them formed their own group, known as the Folkestone Hotels
Association. Chairman George Waddilove, of the Sharcn Hotel, Earls
Avenue, said the apathy of the other group was the main reason. One of
their beefs was that little had been done over complaints about the
shortcomings of the current Shepway holiday guide - 4,500 had been sent
out without the inclusion of the advertising section and there were
printing errors. The hoteliers offered to cooperate with the original
group to seek improvements. The Council hoped to build 340 houses a year
in the next five years which it said, should meet demand.
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