Boughton under Blean explained

Country:England
Static Image:St Peter and St Paul's Church, Brenley Lane, Boughton-under-blean, Kent - geograph.org.uk - 1502153.jpg
Static Image Caption:St Peter and St Paul's church
Coordinates:51.292°N 0.974°W
Official Name:Boughton under Blean
Population:1917
Population Ref:(2011 Census)
Shire District:Swale
Shire County:Kent
Region:South East England
Constituency Westminster:Faversham and Mid Kent
Post Town:FAVERSHAM
Postcode District:ME13
Postcode Area:ME
Dial Code:01227
Os Grid Reference:TR066591

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.[1] 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 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'.

Boughton under Blean is also mentioned in the context of Chaucer in Frank Herbert's Children of Dune: "For a time he amused himself by reviewing Chaucer's route from London to Canterbury, listing the places from Southwark: two miles to the watering-place of St Thomas, five miles to Deptford, six miles to Greenwich, thirty miles to Rochester, forty miles to Sittingbourne, fifty-five miles to Boughton under Blean, fifty-eight miles to Harbledown, 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

See main article: 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 Cameron-Fleming-Fido and 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.[2] The church of St Peter and St Paul contains a monument to Hawkins which is the work of Epiphanius Evesham.[3]

Governance

The member of parliament for the Faversham & Mid Kent constituency, which includes Boughton under Blean, since the 2015 UK general election is Helen Whately of the Conservative party.

Boughton under Blean is part of the electoral ward called Boughton and Courtenay. This parish had a population of 5,626 at the 2011 Census.[4]

Notable people

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Civil Parish population 2011 . 1 October 2015 . Office for National Statistics . Neighbourhood Statistics.
  2. ODNB entry: Retrieved 15 May 2011. Subscription required.
  3. Betjeman, John, ed. (1968) Collins Pocket Guide to English Parish Churches; the South. London: Collins; p. 247
  4. Web site: Boughton and Courtenay ward population 2011. 1 October 2015.