Kingsnorth Gardens in Winter
John Kingsnorth , a tenant farmer at Ingles Farm here, decided to excavate the ground on this site in order to produce material for bricks for local building projects. There were kilns nearby, and much of Folkestone seems to have been built in the late 1800s and very early 1900s [my house was built in 1900]. But by the 1920s the site became a rubbish dump and eyesore. Residents complained to the town council who thought it might be a good place to build a town hall, but that never came to fruition. Eventually in 1926 the owner of the site, Lord Radnor, gifted the land to the people of the town and the worked out clay pit was renewed with fresh earth and turned into gardens for the public to enjoy.
With a workforce of unemployed men and a budget of £3,500, the gardens were formally opened in June 1928, having a mix of Oriental, Italian and English garden styles over three descending terraces.
Kingsnorth Gardens in Winter
John Kingsnorth , a tenant farmer at Ingles Farm here, decided to excavate the ground on this site in order to produce material for bricks for local building projects. There were kilns nearby, and much of Folkestone seems to have been built in the late 1800s and very early 1900s [my house was built in 1900]. But by the 1920s the site became a rubbish dump and eyesore. Residents complained to the town council who thought it might be a good place to build a town hall, but that never came to fruition. Eventually in 1926 the owner of the site, Lord Radnor, gifted the land to the people of the town and the worked out clay pit was renewed with fresh earth and turned into gardens for the public to enjoy.
With a workforce of unemployed men and a budget of £3,500, the gardens were formally opened in June 1928, having a mix of Oriental, Italian and English garden styles over three descending terraces.