As one 19th century wag observed, Folkestone is a near anagram of ‘Kent Fools’, a joke not lost on the unknown author (believed to be from Dover) of The Folkestone Fiery Serpent.

In the nineteenth century steamboats sailing to Gravesend transferred an influx of tourists to Rosherville Gardens, a Victorian pleasure garden built within an abandoned chalk pit owned by Jeremiah Rosher.