The Guildhall

The first guildhall in Folkestone, which was designed with arcading on the ground floor to allow markets to be held and with an assembly room on the first floor, was a medieval building erected on the corner of Church Street and Rendezvous Street which was rebuilt in the 17th century. It had its own lock-up for petty criminals After becoming dilapidated, the old guildhall was demolished in 1840. Civic leaders moved to a small crenelated building known as Cistern House which was leased from the Earl of Radnor. In the early 1850s civic leaders decided to demolish Cistern House and build a dedicated town hall on the same site. It was designed by Joseph Messenger in the Italianate style and was…