Folkestone Harbour is the main harbour of the town of Folkestone in Kent, England.
History
In 1541, King Henry VIII of England was about to wage a war against the French. A plan was made to use Folkestone as a port of embarkation to supplies and troops. He sent a Master Tuk and Master Captain of Sandgate to look for a site for the new harbour. Plans were made but never implemented. On 2 May 1542, the king came to Folkestone but then headed to Dover on 6 May. The Folkestone Harbour plan was abandoned.
In 1703, a heavy storm swept away one of the fishing boats on the shingle beach and damaged many other boats. Also several houses had their foundations undermined as the beach was carried away. An engineer from Romney Marsh advised the local fisherman that the construction of three timber/stone jetties would protect the cliff (below the parish church). The work cost the fishermen £600. But in a storm in 1724, the three jetties were demolished and damage costing up to £1,100 was done.
In 1790, Edward Hasted noted, 8-10 'luggerboats' (used for herring and mackerel fishing), plus 30 smaller fishing boats (catching plaice, sole, whiting, skate, and others) employed up to 200-300 men and boys. This fish was then taken up to the London markets.
It remained a small fishing community with a seafront that was continually battered by storms and the encroaching shingle made it hard to land boats. And the loss of life, boats and damage to fisherman's housing was a constant threat.
19th-century development
In 1804, the Earl of Radnor had petitioned Parliament for the construction of a stone harbour. In 1807, an Act of Parliament was passed to build a pier and harbour, which was built by Thomas Telford in 1809. In 1810, the new harbour of local sandstone was complete. By 1820, a harbour area of had been enclosed. Folkestone's trade and population grew slightly but development was still hampered by sand and silt from the Pent Stream. The Folkestone Harbour Company invested heavily in removing the silt but with little success. In 1842, the company became bankrupt and the government put the derelict harbour up for sale. It was bought by the South Eastern Railway (SER), which was then building the London to Dover railway line, and from June 1843 was the base for a ferry service to Boulogne, after a successful trial by the steam packet Water Witch. George Turnbull was responsible in 1844 for building the Horn pier. Dredging the harbour, and the construction of a rail route down to it, began almost immediately, and the town soon became the SER's principal packet station for the Continental traffic to Boulogne.
In 1849, the harbour was used by up to 49,000 passengers, and was being served by the Folkestone Harbour railway station, opened that year.
In 1860, the quay was built and a new fish market was opened on 2 August 1862.
During the 19th century, the harbour was importing coal, timber and ice, being unloaded in the inner harbour. Chalk (for lime burning) was being exported. Many of the ships in this export/import trade were registered in Folkestone.
At the end of the century the pier was extended by to form a sheltering arm with berths for steamers. A piled staging was constructed from the existing end of the pier from which grabs could operate to remove the silt. Diving bells were used to level up the hard rock, and then portland cement blocks of up to 20 tons weight were used to build the foundations. Above the low water line granite facings were used. As each section was completed the staging was removed and redeployed for the next section.
20th century
During World War I, the harbour became a huge embarkation point for British troops heading to France and the Western Front. It was recorded that 10,463,834 military mailbags were handled. The harbour also handled 120,000 war refugees. In the 1920s, the sail ships had been replaced by steam ships, who were using the outer harbour. The inner harbour had then started being used by smaller private craft.
During World War II, the port closed to civilian boat usage and 44,000 personnel used the port during the Dunkirk Evacuation, filling up to eighty trains heading to London. In 1945, cargo services returned to the harbour and ferries went to Calais and Belgium. On 1 August 1946, the SS Auto Carrier started carrying cars to Boulogne. July 1947 the Folkestone-Boulogne service resumed after a winter break. Over 67,000 passengers had used the service.