Marden ( or ) is a village and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the

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 ...

borough of Maidstone The Borough of Maidstone is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. Its administrative centre is Maidstone, the county town of Kent. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Maid ...

approximately south of

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

. The civil parish is located on the flood plain of the

River Beult The River Beult ( ) is a tributary of the River Medway in South East England. Course The Beult has several sources west of Ashford, including one at Woodchurch. It then flows through Headcorn. At Hunton, above Yalding, it is joined by the ...

, and also includes

Chainhurst Chainhurst is a wealden village in Kent, England, and is part of Marden civil parish and Maidstone District. It is about north of Marden, below Bidborough Ridge, and south of the River Beult floodplain. Landmarks Chainhurst Farmhouse is g ...

and the

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

of Wanshurst Green. The village is associated with

apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

growing and from 1933 to 1991 hosted a nationally recognised fruit show.

History

Name

The dense woodland and

marshes A marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous rather than woody plant species.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p Marshes can often be found at ...

of the

Weald of Kent The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Kent. It has three separate parts: the sandstone "High Weald" in t ...

were littered with acorns and beech mast in autumn making ideal seasonal

foraging Foraging is searching for wild food resources. It affects an animal's Fitness (biology), fitness because it plays an important role in an animal's ability to survive and reproduce. Optimal foraging theory, Foraging theory is a branch of behaviora ...

ground for

pigs The pig (''Sus domesticus''), often called swine, hog, or domestic pig when distinguishing from other members of the genus '' Sus'', is an omnivorous, domesticated, even-toed, hoofed mammal. It is variously considered a subspecies of ''Sus s ...

. The grants by

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

kings for rights to these

pannage Pannage (also referred to as ''Eichelmast'' or ''Eckerich'' in Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria, Slovenia and Croatia) is the practice of releasing livestock-domestic pig, pigs in a forest, so that they can feed on falle ...

areas were known as ''dens'' which later came to refer to the herders' camps and ultimately the settlements that grew up there. ''Maer'' referred to barren areas of marsh alongside the forest. In time the dens developed into permanent settlements such a ''Maer'' ''den'', or clearing beside the marsh. By 1066 the settlement was recorded as ''Maere Denn''; in 1170, ''Maeredaen''; 1235, ''Mereden''; 1283, ''Merdenne'', and from about 1635 by its present name.

Parish pump

Marden Parish Council covered over a

well A well is an excavation or structure created in the ground by digging, driving, or drilling to access liquid resources, usually water. The oldest and most common kind of well is a water well, to access groundwater in underground aquifers. The ...

opposite the village's Maidstone Road junction in 1899 and erected a pump. In 1907, it had to be locked, and then removed, because of contamination of the water by

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula . A stable binary hydride, and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinct pungent smell. Biologically, it is a common nitrogenous was ...

, nitrates, chlorides and

organic matter Organic matter, organic material, or natural organic matter refers to the large source of carbon-based compounds found within natural and engineered, terrestrial, and aquatic environments. It is matter composed of organic compounds that have c ...

. The parish pump is depicted on the village sign.

Forges

Oast House, Sutton Forge, Marden, Kent - geograph

George Rootes, a relative of the

Rootes Group The Rootes Group or Rootes Motors Limited was a British automobile manufacturer and, separately, a major motor distributors and dealers business. Run from London's West End, the manufacturer was based in the Midlands and the distribution and dea ...

founders, operated Rootes'

Forge A forge is a type of hearth used for heating metals, or the workplace (smithy) where such a hearth is located. The forge is used by the smith to heat a piece of metal to a temperature at which it becomes easier to shape by forging, or to th ...

at West End, and the West End Tavern next door. A Mr Bourne ran Bourne's Forge in the High Street. After it was demolished, Sutton's shop was built on the site and later new housing, the present Sutton Forge.

French airliner crash

On 10 February 1930, a Farman F.63 Goliath crashed at Pagehurst emergency landing ground whilst attempting an emergency landing following structural failure of the starboard

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

. Two of the six people on board were killed.

Marden Fruit Show

In 1933, Marden Fruit Show Society was established by 35 top-fruit growers and their first show was held in October that year at Walton Hall on Pattenden Lane. The prize fruit was sent to London for display at

Selfridges Selfridges, also known as Selfridges & Co., is a chain of high-end department stores in the United Kingdom that is operated by Selfridges Retail Limited, part of the Selfridges Group of department stores. It was founded by Harry Gordon Selfridge ...

. Apart from

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 ...

, and bad

frost Frost is a thin layer of ice on a solid surface, which forms from water vapor in an above-freezing atmosphere coming in contact with a solid surface whose temperature is below freezing, and resulting in a phase change from water vapor (a gas) ...

years, the Society has organised their shows annually ever since. In 1953

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was the l ...

attended the show. Marden Fruit Show is now ''The National Fruit Show'' and has moved from Pattenden Lane to the

Kent Showground The Kent Showground, formerly (and still colloquially) known as the Kent County Showground is an area of land in Detling, Kent, England, north of the county town of Maidstone. Stretching along the north side of the A249 from the top of Detling Hi ...

at nearby

Detling Detling is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The parish is located on the slope of the North Downs, north east of Maidstone, and on the Pilgrims' Way. History and features The ''Cock Horse Inn'' was used ...

. Entries of

apples An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

pears Pears are fruits produced and consumed around the world, growing on a tree and harvested in the Northern Hemisphere in late summer into October. The pear tree and shrub are a species of genus ''Pyrus'' , in the family Rosaceae, bearing the po ...

and cherries come from across Great Britain and mainland Europe.

Doodlebugs

On 3rd July 1944, a German

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb (german: Vergeltungswaffe 1 "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Ministry of Aviation (Nazi Germany), Reich Aviation Ministry () designation was Fi 103. It was also known to the Allies as the buz ...

shot down by anti-aircraft fire landed on an army camp in Pattenden Lane, killing 11 and injuring eight. A total of 11 of the flying bombs fell on Marden including another on Pattenden Lane that exploded in a pond.

Pluto

A World War II Pluto fuel pipeline was constructed through Marden parish. In 2016, a section of the pipe from Gatehouse Farm, incorporating a concrete joint to facilitate a change in alignment, was relocated and put on permanent display at Marden Library.

Rail collision

On 4 January 1969, a passenger train from to overran a signal at danger in fog and crashed into the back of a parcels train. Four people were killed and 11 injured.

Transport

Marden is 8 miles (13 km) from Maidstone and 14 miles (22 km) from

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

. It is on the B2079 linking the

A229 A, or a, is the first Letter (alphabet), letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, Latin alphabet, used in the English alphabet, modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name ...

Maidstone with the A21 at

Flimwell Flimwell is a village in the civil parish of Ticehurst, in the Rother district of East Sussex, England. It is located close to the border with Kent at the junction of the A21 road with the A268 and the B2087. The village is situated in an Area ...

. Marden railway station is on the

South Eastern Main Line The South Eastern Main Line is a major long-distance railway route in South East England, UK, one of the three main routes crossing the county of Kent, going via Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford and Folkestone to Dover. The other routes are the ...

Economy

There is local employment at the substantial

industrial estate An industrial park (also known as industrial estate, trading estate) is an area zoned and planned for the purpose of industrial development. An industrial park can be thought of as a more "heavyweight" version of a business park or office park, ...

built north of the railway line on Pattenden Lane from 1950 which supplements traditional agricultural jobs, but many residents

commute Commute, commutation or commutative may refer to: * Commuting, the process of travelling between a place of residence and a place of work Mathematics * Commutative property, a property of a mathematical operation whose result is insensitive to th ...

to work in London. In 1993, there was a substantial tyre dump fire at the Pattenden Lane industrial area that caused

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

of the

River Teise The River Teise ( , ) is a tributary of the River Medway in Kent, England. Course The source of the Teise is in Dunorlan Park in Tunbridge Wells. From there the river flows eastwards past Bayham Abbey and then through Lamberhurst. downstream ...

Amenities

St Michael and All Angels Church, depicted on the village sign, was built at the end of the 12th century. In 2007,

Ann Widdecombe Ann Noreen Widdecombe (born 4 October 1947) is a British politician, author and television personality. She was Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone and The Weald, and the former Maidstone constituency, from 1987 to 2010 and Member of the E ...

opened the Marden Heritage Centre's archive at Marden Library. The village school, Marden Primary Academy, joined the

Leigh Academies Trust Leigh Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust, formed of 31 schools based in the Kent, Medway and South East London areas. Its Head Office is on the same site as Strood Academy, housing its Executive Team and central teams including Finance, Est ...

in 2020. Marden Village Club was founded in 1907 and offers refreshments, singers and

bingo Bingo or B-I-N-G-O may refer to: Arts and entertainment Gaming * Bingo, a game using a printed card of numbers ** Bingo (British version), a game using a printed card of 15 numbers on three lines; most commonly played in the UK and Ireland ** Bi ...

to its members. Across Howland Road from the Village Club is the entrance to Marden

Bowls Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

Club's

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

and clubhouse.

Memorial Hall

Marden Memorial Hall on Goudhurst Road is operated by a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

. The three function rooms host community and private events, and since 1974 have staged Marden Theatre Group productions. The Hall was converted from a former

Church School A Christian school is a school run on Christian principles or by a Christian organization. The nature of Christian schools varies enormously from country to country, according to the religious, educational, and political cultures. In some countr ...

in 1934 and named for the memory of Mr Edward Day. Between 1950 and 1977 the Memorial Hall accommodated Marden library.

Sport

Oast Cottage, Goudhurst Road, Marden, Kent - geograph

Marden Cricket Club and Marden Russets Hockey Club are based at Day's Sport Field. Marden Minors football team play at Church Park.

Marden Meadows

The Marden Meadows

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

is to the east of the village. Kent Trust for Nature Conservation mows the three fields once a year for

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

and livestock graze the aftermath. The unimproved, natural grassland contains

Ophioglossum ''Ophioglossum'', the adder's-tongue ferns, is a genus of about 50 species of ferns in the family Ophioglossaceae. The name ''Ophioglossum'' comes from the Greek meaning "snake-tongue".

, green winged orchid,

Saxifraga granulata ''Saxifraga granulata'', commonly called meadow saxifrage, is a species of flowering plant in the family Saxifragaceae. It is native to Europe and Morocco. Taxonomy ''Saxifraga granulata'' was first formally described by Linnaeus as part of hi ...

, Leucanthemum vulgare,

Rhinanthus minor ''Rhinanthus minor'', known as yellow rattle, is a herbaceous wildflower in the genus ''Rhinanthus'' in the family Orobanchaceae (the broomrapes). It has circumpolar distribution in Europe, Russia, western Asia, and northern North America. An an ...

, and within a pond

Hottonia palustris ''Hottonia palustris'', also water violet or featherfoil, is an aquatic plant in the family Primulaceae. Description The plant has a stem reaching up to in height. Its basal roots are buried in the underlying mud, while other silvery, shiny r ...

and bladder-sedge.

People

* Nicholas Amhurst (1697–1742), poet *

William Hartnell William Henry Hartnell (8 January 1908 – 23 April 1975) was an English actor. He is best remembered for his portrayal of the First Doctor, first incarnation of The Doctor (Doctor Who), the Doctor in ''Doctor Who'' from 1963 to 1966. In film, ...

(1908–75), actor *

Sidney Highwood Captain Sidney William Highwood (30 December 1896 – 1975) was a British World War I flying ace and balloon buster credited with sixteen aerial victories. Biography Highwood was born in Marden, Kent, to William and Sarah Highwood, of Hertsfi ...

(1896–1975 ),

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

officer * William Morley Punshon (1824–81), preacher *

Franz Von Werra Franz Xaver Baron von Werra (13 July 1914 – 25 October 1941) was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who was shot down over Britain and captured. He was the only Axis prisoner of war to escape from Canadian custody and return ...

, (1914–41), German fighter pilot *

Nicholas Fenn Sir Nicholas Maxted Fenn (19 February 1936 – 18 September 2016) was a British diplomat. He was High Commissioner to India from 1991 to 1996. Fenn served as a RAF pilot in the 1950s before his diplomatic and civil service career. Fenn later ...

(1936–2016), British diplomat

References

External links

Marden Parish Council
* {{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent