Folkestone

Folkestone, a municipal borough, seaport, and bathing-place of England, on the coast of Kent, 7 miles WSW. of Dover, stands on uneven ground at the foot of a range of hills and up their slopes, the oldest part lying in a narrow valley, crossed by a fine railway viaduct. The town has rapidly extended and improved since the opening of the South-Eastern Railway, and of a daily service of steam-packets to Boulogne. Pop. (1881) 18,816; (1891) 23,700. Folkestone unites with Hythe in returning one member to parliament. The harbour is much used by boats employed in the herring and mackerel fisheries. In the vicinity are the remains of Roman entrenchments. Here Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, was born in 1578.