__NOTOC__ Capel-le-Ferne is a village situated near

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. Its name derives from the phrase "Chapel in the Ferns". It had a population in 2011 of 1,884. It is perched on top of the

White Cliffs of Dover The White Cliffs of Dover is the region of English coastline facing the Strait of Dover and France. The cliff face, which reaches a height of , owes its striking appearance to its composition of chalk accented by streaks of black flint, deposi ...

. Its foremost attraction is the Battle of Britain Memorial, opened by the

Queen Mother A queen mother is a former queen, often a queen dowager, who is the mother of the reigning monarch. The term has been used in English since the early 1560s. It arises in hereditary monarchies in Europe and is also used to describe a number of ...

on 9 July 1993 and dedicated to those who fought in the battle. The Memorial is built upon part of a former

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

coastal battery Coastal artillery is the branch of the armed forces concerned with operating anti-ship artillery or fixed gun batteries in coastal fortifications. From the Middle Ages until World War II, coastal artillery and naval artillery in the form of c ...

(No. 2 and No. 3 guns). The other part of the Coastal Battery is privately held and under restoration. The

Channel Tunnel The Channel Tunnel (french: Tunnel sous la Manche), also known as the Chunnel, is a railway tunnel that connects Folkestone (Kent, England, UK) with Coquelles ( Hauts-de-France, France) beneath the English Channel at the Strait of Dover. ...

runs underneath the northernmost part of the village. The village is twinned with the commune of

Oye-Plage Oye-Plage (; vls, Ooie, lang) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Geography Oye-Plage lies about east of Calais, on the junction of the D219 and the D940. The commune is nearly a mile from the ...

in the Pas-de-Calais department in France, about 7 miles (12 km) east of

Calais Calais ( , , traditionally , ) is a port city in the Pas-de-Calais department, of which it is a subprefecture. Although Calais is by far the largest city in Pas-de-Calais, the department's prefecture is its third-largest city of Arras. Th ...

Transport

The B2011 New Dover road runs through the village between Folkestone and Dover. The A20 runs to the north and is used by freight and ferry traffic heading for Dover.

Tourism

The cliffs offer a spectacular walking opportunity, towards the East Cliff and Warren Country Park in the direction of Folkestone. Towards Dover,

Samphire Hoe Samphire Hoe is a country park situated west of Dover in Kent in southeast England. The park was created by using 4.9 million cubic metres of chalk marl from the Channel Tunnel excavations and is found at the bottom of a section of the White Cl ...

can be reached and the area is popular for walking or cycling.

Governance

electoral ward A ward is a local authority area, typically used for electoral purposes. In some countries, wards are usually named after neighbourhoods, thoroughfares, parishes, landmarks, geographical features and in some cases historical figures connected to t ...

with the same name exists. This ward includes

Hougham Without Hougham Without is a civil parish between Dover and Folkestone in southeast England. The main settlements are the villages of Church Hougham and West Hougham, collectively known simply as "Hougham". Great Hougham Court Farm is located to the sou ...

and at the 2011 census had a population of 2,347.

In popular culture

Author

Russell Hoban Russell Conwell Hoban (February 4, 1925 – December 13, 2011) was an American expatriate writer. His works span many genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magical realism, poetry, and children's books. He lived in ...

repurposes Capel-le-Fern as "Crippel the Farn" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel ''

Riddley Walker ''Riddley Walker'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Russell Hoban, first published in 1980. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982, as well as an Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awar ...

''.

References

External links