Biddenden is a large, mostly agricultural and wooded 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 authorit ...

in the

borough of Ashford The Borough of Ashford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. It borders five other Kent districts, as well as East Sussex to the south-west. Ashford Borough Council's main offices are in the town of Ashford. The bor ...

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 ...

, England. The village lies on the

Weald 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 the ...

of Kent, some north of

Tenterden Tenterden is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. It stands on the edge of the remnant forest the Weald, overlooking the valley of the River Rother. It was a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. Its riverside today is not ...

. It was a centre for the

Wealden iron industry The Wealden iron industry was located in the Weald of south-eastern England. It was formerly an important industry, producing a large proportion of the bar iron made in England in the 16th century and most British cannon until about 1770. Iron ...

and also of clothmaking. The parish includes the hamlet of Woolpack Corner ().

Origin of Name

The place name of Biddenden is derived from the

Kentish dialect English in Southern England (also, rarely, Southern English English; Southern England English; or in the UK, simply, Southern English) is the collective set of different dialects and accents of Modern English spoken in Southern England. As of ...

Old English Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...

, meaning "Bidda's woodland pasture". It is associated with a man called ''Bida,'' was originally ''Biddingden'' (c993) ''Bida'' + ''ing'' + ''denn'', eventually evolving into the current spelling.

History

All Saints Biddenden is the parish church, built mostly in the 13th century. There was likely an earlier Saxon church here. During the half-century reign of Edward III,

Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...

clothworkers were settled in the area. The ready availability of raw materials led to the establishment of a flourishing textile industry for the production of

broadcloth Broadcloth is a dense, plain woven cloth, historically made of wool. The defining characteristic of broadcloth is not its finished width but the fact that it was woven much wider (typically 50 to 75% wider than its finished width) and then he ...

. Wealth from this industry built many of the fine houses in town. Biddenden Place was the ancestral home of the Mayney or Mayne family: the village school, originally founded in 1522, is named after its benefactor John Mayne.

Biddenden Maids

In 1100,

Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst (or Chalkhurst), commonly known as the Biddenden Maids (1100–1134), were a pair of conjoined twins supposedly born in Biddenden, Kent, England, in the year 1100. They are said to have been joined at both the shoulder ...

, a pair of

conjoined twins Conjoined twins – sometimes popularly referred to as Siamese twins – are twins joined ''Uterus, in utero''. A very rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 49,000 births to 1 in 189,000 births, with a somewhat higher in ...

, were supposedly born in the village. The origin of the perpetual charity of Biddenden is celebrated in the village signage of the Biddenden Maids, as they became known. The Biddenden Consolidated Charity provides Biddenden pensioners and widows with bread, cheese, and tea at Easter, a cash payment at Christmas, and distribution of Biddenden cakes.

Demography

At the 2001 UK census, the Biddenden electoral ward had a population of 2,434. The ethnicity was 98.7% white, 0.4% mixed race, 0.3% Asian, 0.5% black and 0.1% other. The place of birth of residents was 94.2% United Kingdom, 0.4% Republic of Ireland, 1.6% other Western European countries, and 3.8% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 78.6% Christian, 0.3% Buddhist, 0.2% Hindu, 0% Sikh, 0% Jewish, and 0.1% Muslim. 12.7% were recorded as having no religion, 0.3% had an alternative religion and 7.9% did not state their religion. The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 32.8% in full-time employment, 12.5% in part-time employment, 16.9% self-employed, 1.7% unemployed, 1.1% students with jobs, 2.4% students without jobs, 18.8% retired, 9.4% looking after home or family, 2.5% permanently sick or disabled and 2% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 13.9% retail, 9.5% manufacturing, 10.3% construction, 14.3% real estate, 10.3% health and social work, 7.2% education, 4.7% transport and communications, 5.2% public administration, 4.9% hotels and restaurants, 5.7% finance, 5.8% agriculture and 8.2% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in agriculture and construction. There were a relatively low proportion in manufacturing, transport and communications. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 19.6% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide. An important cottage industry has developed to the west, where numerous vineyards and orchards produce varietal wines, ciders and juices. Biddenden is also the trading name of Biddenden's Cider. Biddenden's Cider is made by Biddenden Vineyards Ltd.Biddenden's Cider
Biddenden Vineyards whose premises are close to the clustered village centre.

Transport

Biddenden was served for nearly five decades by

Biddenden railway station Biddenden was a railway station on the Kent and East Sussex Railway The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently ru ...

, on the

Kent and East Sussex Railway The Kent and East Sussex Railway (K&ESR) refers to both a historical private railway company in Kent and East Sussex in England, as well as a heritage railway currently running on part of the route of the historical company. Historical company ...

. The station opened on 15 May 1905 and closed on 4 January 1954. Bygone Buses was based in Biddenden during the late 1980s and early 1990s. It was sold to

Maidstone & District Motor Services Maidstone & District Motor ServicesCompanies House extract company ...

Notable people

(1100–34), conjoined twins traditionally said to have lived in Biddenden. *

Thomas Bickley Thomas Bickley (1518–1596) was an English churchman, a Marian exile who became Warden of Merton College, Oxford and Bishop of Chichester Life He was born at Stow, Buckinghamshire, and began his education as a chorister in the free school of ...

(1518–96), was rector of Biddenden prior to 1585. *

Elias Sydall Elias Sydall (1672–1733) was an English bishop of St David's and bishop of Gloucester. Life He was the son of a glover of Norwich. He matriculated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge in 1688, graduating B.A. in 1692 and M.A. in 1695. He became ...

(1672–1733), was rector of Biddenden 1702–05. *

Edward Nares Edward Nares (26 March 1762 – 23 July 1841) was an English historian and theologian, and general writer. Life He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was Fellow of Merton College, Oxford and in 1813, he became ...

(1762–1841), theologian, was rector of Biddenden 1798–1827. * Robert Kahn (1865–1951), composer, lived in Biddenden from 1938–51. *

John R. Winder John Rex Winder (; December 11, 1821 – March 27, 1910) was a leader and general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He was Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric from 1887 to 1901, and First Coun ...

(1821–1910), Second in command of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

1901–1910, was born in Biddenden. *

William Guy William Augustus Guy (13 June 1810 – 10 September 1885) was a British physician and medical statistician. Life He was born in Chichester and educated at Christ's Hospital and Guy's Hospital; he then studied at the University of Heidelberg an ...

(1859–1950), pioneer of modern dentistry, was born in Biddenden. *King

Rama VII Prajadhipok ( th, ประชาธิปก, RTGS: ''Prachathipok'', 8 November 1893 – 30 May 1941), also Rama VII, was the seventh monarch of Siam of the Chakri dynasty. His reign was a turbulent time for Siam due to political and ...

Siam Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

(1893–1941) lived in Biddenden after his abdication in 1935. *

Sir John Kotelawala General Sir John Lionel Kotelawala ( si, ශ්‍රිමත් ජෝන් ලයනල් කොතලාවල; 4 April 1897 – 2 October 1980) was a Sri Lankan statesman, who served as the 3rd Prime Minister of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) fro ...

(1895-1980), Prime Minister of Ceylon, lived in Biddenden for several years.

Notes and references

Notes * References

External links

Official Site for Biddenden Parish Council
{{authority control Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent