Boughton under Blean is a village and civil parish between Faversham and Canterbury in south-east England. "Boughton under Blean" technically refers only to the hamlet at the top of Boughton Hill; the main village at the foot of the hill is named Boughton Street, but the whole is referred to as "Boughton under Blean" or more commonly as just "Boughton". The Blean refers to the Forest of Blean, an area of long-standing Kent woodland covering over 11 square miles (28.5 sq. km). It had a population of 1,917 according to the 2011 Census. The parish includes the hamlet of Crouch.

Chaucer

Before the opening of the A2 Boughton bypass in 1976, Boughton lay on the main route between London and Canterbury. Having passed through the village and climbed Boughton Hill, it is the first place from which the towers of

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

can be seen when travelling from the direction of London. This gains a mention in Chaucer's '' Canterbury Tales'', in '

The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale" is one of ''The Canterbury Tales'' by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canon and his Yeoman are not mentioned in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales, where most of the other pilgrims are described, but they arrive later a ...

'. Boughton under Blean is also mentioned in the context of Chaucer in

Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...

's '' Children of Dune'': "For a time he amused himself by reviewing Chaucer's route from London to Canterbury, listing the places from

Southwark Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...

: two miles to the watering-place of St Thomas, five miles to Deptford, six miles to Greenwich, thirty miles to

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

, forty miles to Sittingbourne, fifty-five miles to Boughton under Blean, fifty-eight miles to

Harbledown Harbledown is a village in Kent, England, immediately west of Canterbury and contiguous with the city. At local government level the village is designated as a separate civil parish, that of Harbledown and Rough Common. The High Street is a cons ...

, and sixty miles to Canterbury. It gave him a sense of timeless buoyancy to know that few in his universe would recall Chaucer or know any London except the village on Gansireed."

Sir Thomas Hawkins

The poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins was baptised on 20 July 1575 at Boughton under Blean, as the eldest son of Sir Thomas Hawkins (1548/9–1617) of Nash Court, Boughton, and his wife, Ann (1552–1616), daughter of Cyriac Pettyt of Colkyns, also in Boughton. His 1625 translation ''The Odes of Horace the Best of Lyrick Poets'' was republished in 1631, 1635 and 1638, and plagiarized in 1652. He died in the parish of St Sepulchre's, London, probably in late 1640. The family remained Roman Catholic until well into the 18th century. Nash Court was attacked by a Protestant crowd during the 1715 Jacobean uprising, and Hawkins's valuable library destroyed. The church of St Peter and St Paul contains a monument to Hawkins which is the work of Epiphanius Evesham.

Governance

Working Oast House on South Street, Boughton under Blean, Kent - geograph

The member of parliament for the Faversham & Mid Kent constituency, which includes Boughton under Blean, since the

2015 UK general election The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and only general election held at the end of a Parliament under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Local ...

is Helen Whately of the Conservative party. Boughton under Blean is part of the

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 ...

called Boughton and Courtenay. This parish had a population of 5,626 at the 2011 Census.

Notable people

William Shilling William Shilling (1848–1939) was a New Zealand mariner and pilot. He was born in Boughton, Kent, England in 1848. Shilling is notable as the pilot under whose watch the entrance to Wellington Harbour (then called ''Port Nicholson'') was mad ...

(1848–1939), New Zealand mariner and pilot, born in Boughton

References

External links

Village web siteBored In Swale - an information site listing activities for the youth in Swale
{{DEFAULTSORT:Boughton under Blean Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent