Biddenden is a large, mostly agricultural and wooded village and civil parish in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The village lies on the Weald of Kent, some 5 miles (8 km) north of Tenterden. It was a centre for the Wealden iron industry and also of clothmaking.
The parish includes the hamlet of Woolpack Corner (51°06′N0°38′E / 51.10°N 00.64°E).
The place name of Biddenden is derived from the Kentish dialect of Old English, 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.[2][3]
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 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. 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. [4]
In 1100, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, a pair of conjoined twins, 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.[5]