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	Folkestone Pier - Cliff Lift - Port - Lighthouses - Railway All images link to larger copies which will open in a new window/tab
	This page shows images of the pier, cliff lift, port and lighthouses at Folkestone.

Local estate agent G.B. Trent formed the Folkestone Pier & Lift Co. in the early 1880s, originally proposing an 800 foot pier. The foundation stone was laid on 7th May 1887 and the Victoria Pier (in honour of the 1887 Golden Jubilee), opened on 21st July 1888 to the design of M.N. Ridley. The finished length was 683 feet and included a 700-seat pavilion. The first floating landing stage was added in 1890 but was rarely used.

The pier was popular but not profitable until 1898. In 1903, Keith Prowse & Co. Ltd. took over the lease on the pavilion and introduced variety performers including Lily Langtry and Dan Leno. In 1907, the lease on the pier transferred to local businessmen Robert and Lloyd Forsyth who abandoned expensive entertainers in favour of more profitable attractions such as wrestling, a cinema, and beauty contests.

In 1910, the 'Olympia' roller-skating rink was added on the shore to the west of the pier. The pier was sectioned in 1940 for defence purposes. A temporary bridge was installed in 1943, but a fire on Whit Sunday wrecked the pavilion and badly damaged the seaward end of the pier. The remains were demolished in 1954.

Ref: www.piers.org.uk

Pier and harbour works were built at Folkestone between 1807-1820, but the harbour silted up and its removal was deemed too expensive. The South Eastern Railway (SER) took over the harbour in 1842 and commenced dredging to make Folkestone their principal port for the continent. In 1848 they built the ornate wooden lighthouse, known as the Horn Tower, shown in the first postcard below. The SER then built a new breakwater in 1860 with a new lighthouse at the end. This lighthouse remains in use and is accessible via the pier. The Horn Tower was decommissioned and dismantled in 1941.

Pier and harbour works were built at Folkestone between 1807-1820, but the harbour silted up and its removal was deemed too expensive. The South Eastern Railway (SER) took over the harbour in 1842 and commenced dredging to make Folkestone their principal port for the continent. The SER then built a new breakwater in 1860 with a new lighthouse at the end. The original harbour remained for the use of smaller vessels and fishing boats.

Folkestone had four cliff lifts, all giving access to the Leas, the cliffs to the west of the harbour. There were two adjacent lifts at the East Leas (built 1885 & 1890), the Sandgate Lift (built 1893) and a lift at the West Leas (built 1904). Of these only the 1885 East Leas lift survives. The Sandgate Lift closed in 1918, the West Leas Lift did not reopen after WW2 and the 1890 East Leas Lift closed in 1966. The area to the east of the harbour is known as the Warren, which has its own halt on the railway to Dover.

Originally installed in 1885, the Grade II Listed Leas Lift is a funicular railway which carries passengers between the seafront and the promenade. It is one of the oldest water lifts in the UK. The lift operates using water and gravity and is controlled from a small cabin at the top of the cliff. It has carried more than 50 million people since it opened, in a process that is especially energy efficient. The lift has a very small carbon footprint as it emits no pollution and recycles all of the water used to drive the cars.

In June 2009, Shepway District Council’s lease ran out and it was decided that the lift was too expensive to run. Campaigners subsequently protested against the closure of the lift and in April 2010, it was announced that the lift was to be restored. Crofton Design, the consulting engineers responsible for the Leas Lift restoration, was appointed as lead consultant to provide structural engineering design. Crofton won the ‘Building Structures’ award at the ACE Engineering Excellence Awards in May 2011 and won the ‘Restoration’ award at the ICE Engineering Excellence Awards in June 2011 for their work on the lift.

G A Harpers were appointed as the main contractor to carry out the necessary construction work. The renovation involved replacing the mechanical and electrical wiring and ensuring that all necessary safety standards in the two cars, the control systems and stations, were met. There was also a focus on restoring the associated power pumps that control the lift at the top and bottom stations. The wheel bearings on the lift cars were all found to be damaged by corrosion so the wheels were re-machined to provide the correct running profile. Additionally, the corroded steelwork support structures within the buried water storage tanks, which were leaking, were inspected and replaced.

125 years after it first opened, the operation of the Folkestone lift has been taken over by The Folkestone Leas Lift Community Interest Company. The company operates the lift on behalf of the community as a non-profit-making organisation and has opened the attraction as a living museum.

Ref: wikipedia.com

Martello Towers are small defensive forts first built in the South East of England during the Napoleonic War between 1805 and 1808. They were built throughout the British Empire, in 5 different continents, during the first half of the 19th Century. 103 in total were built around Britain, after the South East, a large number can be found in Essex, Suffolk and in Ireland.

Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress at Mortella Point in Corsica (completed 1565). In 1794 two British warships for two days unsuccessfully attacked the tower at Mortella Point. This impressed the British who copied the design for the British Martello Towers.

The round structures followed a standard plan, though varied in size. A typical South East Martello would be about 45 ft* (13.7m) in diameter at base and up to 40ft* (12m) tall. The masonry walls were built of brick and rendered with lime mortar externally, and were up to 13ft thick. Inside there were two main floors, the lower floor housing supplies and a powder store, and the first floor the men's quarters and officer's quarters. A single Martello housed between 15 and 25 men; a garrison of up to 24 men and 1 officer. The internal floor area of both floors was 1300 sq ft.

The south coast Martellos stretch from Folkestone to Seaford (Sussex) and are numbered 1-74. There are three Martellos close together in Folkestone, numbered 1,2 and 3.

Ref: geograph.org.uk/article/Martello-Towers

	Sections on this Page Folkestone Piers & Port Folkestone Victoria Pier Folkestone Railway Pier Folkestone Harbour Station Folkestone Lighthouses Folkestone Harbour Folkestone Lifts Folkestone - East Leas Cliff Lift Folkestone - Sandgate Lift Folkestone - West Leas Cliff Lift Folkestone - The Leas Folkestone - The Warren Folkestone - Martello Towers Other Kent Pages Kent Piers Kent Lighthouses Deal Dover Folkestone - This Page Gravesend & Tilbury Piers Maidstone Queenborough Kent Excursion Ships General Steam Navigation Invicta Line Cruises Lower Thames & Medway Passenger Boat Co New Medway SPCo New Palace Steamers PS Kingswear Castle PS Monarch (3) Tilbury-Gravesend Ferry	Associated Pages UK Transporter Bridges Railways Header Page Cruise Ships Ocean Liners UK Excursion Vessels World Ferry Fleets Simplon Postcards - Home Page Simplon Postcards - Recent Updates - Simplon Ship Postcards facebook page - Simplon Minor Railways facebook page - Simplon Piers & Lighthouses facebook page - Simplon Tramways facebook page - Simplon Cliff Lifts facebook page
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