Special Feature Photograph by Phil Medgett


World War One is steeped in Kent’s history, serving as the departure point and a place to tend the wounded. But its effect on the local populations is perhaps less well-documented as some fascinating walking trails now reveal. Simon Finlay reports…


Folkestone


For more than a decade, the prety seaside town of Folkestone has been re-casting itself as a cultural destination with international influence. Plumped up with the money from a generous


benefactor, the resort’s former ferry port has been transformed into an arts and music hub. But a century ago, this terminal looking out


across the English Channel was emerging from an altogether darker period. High above the sea on the white chalk


cliffs, the pounding guns could be heard from northern France. Down below on what is now called the Road of Remembrance, ten million men were marched down the steep hill to meet troop-carrying vessels and into war. Many would never come back and countless would return badly injured in body and mind. On that final march on home soil, the men


would be ordered to “step short”, to minimise the chance of falls causing injury on “Te Slope” to the harbour. Te command became laden with poignant


significance and today it is the name taken by a charity which helps to remind the world of the part Folkestone played in the war to “end all wars”. It was said that soldiers could have eaten


breakfast in a Folkestone camp and be in an unimaginable hell by dinner-time. Te town was a major garrison with camps,


training and medical facilities throughout the conflict and beyond. Step Short was formed in advance of the


centenary of the start of the war and has proved an important archive of not just the war, but local people’s relationships to it. Tere is an interactive app which takes the


visitor around the town’s streets on foot, retracing the steps of the millions of British, Canadian and American troops as they leſt England. See where they were trained and camped,


wrote leters to families and shared thoughts of home as the distant, incessant sound of gunfire was carried on the wind from the Somme. And how many of us really knew that


Folkestone was the arrival point for thousands of Belgian refugees escaping the ravages of war? Folkestonians felt the conflict from the skies


with raids from Zeppelins and the German air force, not least the Tontine Street bombing in May 1917, with the loss of 71 lives. In a project managed and produced by


historian Dr Will Butler, the walking tour iPhone app also investigates how the town coped with the constant throughput of soldiers on their way to the front and the legacy it has leſt behind.


GREATWAR How Kent survived the


Tere are dozens of locations associated with Folkestone’s role in WWI and while most are suitable for visitors on foot, some, such as the Road of Remembrance, are difficult for the less mobile. However, the harbour and town centre areas are all easily tackled. Tere is also a host of places to eat and drink in the town centre. Try Te Grand on Te Leas for a cream tea or sample fish and chips in the harbour area’s Creative Quarter. For locations to visit in Kent and advice on tackling some of the more challenging routes, click onto the excellent www.kentww1.com website.


Step Short’s Footsteps project is an ambitious atempt to retrace the movements of WW1 soldiers who made their way to the port. Te project will be achieved with the co-operation of the families. At the top of the Road of Remembrance is the


Step Short Memorial Arch on Te Leas and is as good a place to start as any. Be sure to see it as the sun sets across the Channel. It is just as easily to plot your own route to suit your needs and abilities. www.stepshort.co.uk


Mid Kent Living 7


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