Welcome to Friends of old Folkestone cemetery pages
Cheriton Road, Folkestone
Established in January 2016, the ‘Friends’ is a dedicated volunteer group with a mission to safeguard, preserve, and foster interest in the Victorian cemetery. Spanning from the initial burial in 1856 to contemporary ash interments, all grave records are meticulously documented in Burial Registers.
With approximately 15,000 graves (27,000 burials), the burial details are housed in 8 extensive registers at the District Council office, and are also now accessible online through Ancestry. Noteworthy features include 45 Commonwealth war graves, a Cross of Sacrifice, three Victoria Cross recipients, the listed Machine Gun Corps (Cavalry) memorial, and a memorial to the Grosser Kurfurst (also listed).
CHILDRENS HOLIDAY QUIZ: If you want to do something different with the children during the school holidays why not have a nice relaxing walk around the old Folkestone cemetery whilst the kids search for significant gravestones – also a chance to learn a little about local history. Click on the Quiz Link Here to download various quiz papers.
The White Garden: A donation from PaversFoundation, and FHDC Ward Funding plus private donations on JustGiving have allowed us to reach our target. The JustGiving account has therefore been closed. And after a small event the White Garden interpretation panel was unveiled (Interpretation panel unveiled, the progress of the White Garden)
Grave Stories of Murder, Mystery & Misfortune: Uncovering real stories from the Old Folkestone Cemetery. Just published – Out Now – a book about some of the amazing and interesting characters in the old Folkestone cemetery – available as paperback, hardback and ebook on Amazon. More Here
Folkestone Timeline
- c8,000 BC Land bridge to the Continent breached at end of last ice age
- c800 BC Quernstone production from local greensand sold over much of the known world for grinding corn by hand gets underway and continues for over 2,000 years
- 630AD St Eanswythe, daughter of King of Kent, builds the first nunnery in England in The Bayle overlooking the Continent, supplied by water running in a contour aqueduct from the hills behind the town. Folkestone briefly the capital of Kent and England
- 1339 French Fleet attack Folkestone and Dover
- 1629 Folkestone obtained a license to build a port
- 1790s-1815 Supply point for Napoleonic wars. Smuggling endemic. Retiring officers make it an important residential area thereafter
- 1794 Shorncliffe Camp established
- 1820 Decimus Burton lays out The Leas for the Earl of Radnor
- 1843 Railway from London opens
- 1851 The population of Folkestone according to the census was 6,726
- 1878 The sinking of the Grosser Kurfurst taking 284 of her crew with her
- 1891 The full-rigged ship Benvenue sank off Sandgate
- 1901-1910 King Edward VII and friends patronise the town
- 1914 -18 WW1 the Great War
- 1917 the great Folkestone air raid (Gotha bombing raid)
- 1918-19 Influenza Pandemic – killed more people than the Great War.
- 1939-45 WW2 Second World War
- 1979 Motorway opens.
- 1987 5,500-ton Sealink passenger ferry Hengist beached in the Great Storm
- 1993 Channel Tunnel opens.
- 2009 High-Speed Train service opens – London in 50 minutes