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Folkestone
 

Folkestone, St Augustine

Photo: Googlemaps, June 2019

  • Single bell hung for swing chiming with lever
  • Tenor: 1-1-25
  • Grid Ref: TR229363
  • Formerly Edward Husband Memorial Hall
  • Denomination: Church of England
    Diocese (Anglican): Canterbury

Details of the Bells
Bell Weight
(most recent)		Diameter Note Date FounderRetuned
Single bell 1-1-2517⅞" C♯ 1963 Mears & Stainbank, WhitechapelNever

Inscriptions

Prior to 1963
Bell DateFounderFate
Hemispherical bellc. 1856UnknownScrapped 1963

History
1910 The foundation stone of the "Edward Husband Memorial Parish Hall" was laid on 12 Sept. Edward Husband was the Vicar of St Michael & All Angels, who died in 1908. This building was designed to the parish hall for St Michael's. It opened in November. At some point it was provided with the 19th century hemispherical bell that had come from the decommissioned chapel at Cheriton Road Cemetery. It was reported that when the bell was rung, "its massive hammer vibrated through the whole building with a dull thud". [1]
1953 With St Michael's closed and then demolished in this year, this hall was taken over by a daughter church of the main Parish Church (Ss Mary & Eanswythe) and called St Augustine Mission Church. This was a relaunch of the previous St Augustine Mission Church in Mill Bay which closed in 1941 owing to the War.
1963 The hemispherical bell was replaced with a new bell from Mears & Stainbank.
1989 Folkestone's Greek Orthodox and Cypriot communities were invited to share the building, so the hall also house St Mark & St Fontini's church.
1994 The building was refurbished and became known as St Augustine's Centre.
2014 Government funding for St Augustine's Centre was lost so parishioners from the former St Saviour's Church stepped in to share the building with St Mark & St Fontini, as St Saviour's Church itself had been closed.
[1] It was a "hemispherical gong acquired from Folkestone Cemetery when the chapel was closed and it was hung at St Augustine's. When rung with a massive hammer it vibrated through the building with a dull thud." (Mr Berry Senr., Alan's father, was the last Church Warden of St Michael's.) (Memories from Alan Berry)


Love's Guide to the Church Bells of Kent Page updated: 11 June 2020