Cheriton Baptist Church
This is another local site which we take for granted. We've walked past this church so many times without giving it much thought. Ren's originally from Cheriton so she's been aware of this one all her life, and yet we'd never bothered to look into it, or even inside.
Every time we've been in the vicinity lately we haven't been able to gain access so this is an external look from across the road. The downside of course is that as a fairly modern church there isn't much history to be had, but we'll share with you what we know.
On the very cusp of 1899 Folkestone Baptist church realised that Cheriton was coming into its own and required a Baptist church for worship. Two years later they converted a shop as a temporary space for Sunday evening services to see how they went. It was soon realised that a more permanent space was required instead of a tradesman's shop and so a plot of land in Cheriton was bought and another temporary building erected.
In 1907 the stone foundations were laid and the rest was history so they say. It took them a year to construct and the wife of the Prime Minister at the time, Mrs Lloyd George, even opened it. The church survived both world wars despite the bombs and shells dropping nearby, it even played a part by providing canteens for the troops from the nearby Shorncliffe camp.
Since then the church has stood with one wall in the high street as a rather orange example of Edwardian architecture. Simple, quiet, and able to blend in, the church is hardly noticeable unless you happen to look up. The amount of people, us for a time included, that walk past every day and don't clock there is even a church there. Compared to the other churches in the area of medieval and gothic design, this church is very modern and therefore barely noticeable especially as a place of worship. There are no bells and whistles here, just a simple stone and red brick building watching and waiting.
Another short one, but it is history all the same. We quite like this simple Edwardian church, of course we prefer something a little older and breath taking, but we are always stunned to see just how easily a building like this can blend in to the surrounding houses without much thought. A chameleon as some places of worship must be.
We cant say we know of any hauntings here, although we know that this high street does have its fair share of ghosts. It's not exactly a spooky area though so there are no horrific tales of woe to share aside from the various stabbings or people crime, that's a whole different ballgame.
If you're ever in the area we'd say keep an eye out for this building, it's worth a little looksie, but we wouldn't go out of our way.
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