A collaboration between The New Folkestone Society and the Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre bring to you an exciting new project to conserve and digitise the 1698 ‘Book of Mapps of The Estate of the Hon[oura]ble Jacob Desbovery Esq Lying In the East Part of Kent.’ , held at the Wiltshire & Swindon Archives, Ref. 1946/2/3E/1 (part of Lord Radnor’s collection, which is on deposit).
Funding to restore a unique Folkestone book of maps
The New Folkestone Society (NFS) is delighted to announce that the first phase of a mapping project under the umbrella of NFS has received a grant from the National Manuscripts Conservation Trust (NMCT) to conserve and digitise the 1698 ‘Book of Mapps of The Estate of the Hon[oura]ble Jacob Desbouvery Esq Lying In the East Part of Kent.’
The grant will be held by the NFS on behalf of the Wiltshire and Swindon Archive, in whose collection the manuscript is held and whose Collections Manager Ian Hicks is our partner in this venture. The conservation will be carried out on site by Clare Goulbourn of Lux & Livre.
NFS also wishes to acknowledge a generous donation from the current Earl of Radnor, whose ancestor Jacob de Bouverie originally commissioned the survey of his estates in Folkestone by Abraham Walter who produced this unique book of maps.
Work will start on the conservation of the manuscript within the next few months and plans are underway to scan the document at the same time so that it will be accessible online via the Archive catalogue.
Phase 2 of the project will be to produce a specification for a replica to be held in the Folkestone Museum; fundraising activities are being planned to support this proposal.
Ultimately NFS hopes that two 18th Century maps of the Folkestone area (John Powell’s 1782 Map of Folkestone Town and the Haynes 1798 map of the Folkestone Estate) will be incorporated alongside the 1698 survey in an interactive online platform to illustrate Folkestone streets and heritage assets as they stood before the advent of the railways in the 1840s.
New Folkestone Society, 14th July 2025
Further information from the project coordinators:
Pat Cocks and Jo Nyirenda c/o MappingProject@newfolkestonesociety.org.uk
