Photograph of a charabanc trip. Four charabancs full of tourists are about to set off from Folkestone in the 1920s. Charabancs (pronounced charabangs) were early open top buses. These ones belonged to Folkestone Motors. Charabancs left Folkestone on day trips to local tourist destinations including Canterbury, Hythe, the Romney Marsh, Rye and the villages of the North Downs. The name charabanc derives from the French char à bancs or ‘carriage with wooden benches’, having originated as a horse-drawn vehicle in France in the early 19th century.
