We are currently, with the aid of funding from The Earl of Radnor and local councillors, researching and looking into how to construct a facsimile of Abraham Walter’s book that will be housed in Folkestone.

Our aim is for the people of Folkestone to benefit from the recent conservation which has halted the fragility of the original and be able to physically handle and study it. The facsimile will use modern materials as closely aligned as possible to the original. The skills required to make the book were revealed during its conservation and involves printing, gilding, blacksmithing, engraving and bookbinding.  All the craftspeople working on this project are from Kent.

THE FUTURE

Once the facsimile is completed, we will move on to the next stage of the project involving aligning the 1782 John Powell and the 1798 Benjamin Haynes maps of Folkestone with their accompanying indexes. This will enable researchers to easily access information about the people who owned or rented the properties, their occupations, usage of the property and land, the areas occupied and more.

They depict a moment in time before the railway arrived. Today some of the place names still exist but are built over and family names are still to be found in the area. Below is just a minute example of the information that these maps/plans contain.  They are an invaluable source of local social history.