Bredhurst

Bredhurst
Bredhurst
	Maidstone
Ceremonial county	Kent;
Region	South East;
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Gillingham
Postcode district	ME7
Dialling code	01634
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Faversham and Mid Kent;
	List of places UK England Kent 51°19′51″N 0°34′34″E / 51.330895°N 0.576010°E

Bredhurst is a village and

Borough of Maidstone in England. Its population was 330 (1990), increasing to 397 at the 2011 Census.^[1] There has been a settlement on the site of the present day Bredhurst since neolithic times because of fertile fields and the good wood supply. The village is quite close to the M2 motorway

but retains a traditional feel.

Bredhurst is centred on The Bell Inn and Bredhurst

maypole dancing, the crowning of the May Queen, the pageant of Saint George

and the dragon, a procession, and many stalls. The procession starts at Abbots Court farm and ends at Bredhurst School, down the street. The traffic is stopped and the whole village is decked in bunting and banners.

Bredhurst manor dates from the time of

Simon de Burley in 1384. Burley lost the manor when he was accused of high treason

in 1390.

By 1551, Sir Thomas Cheney was owner of the manor, followed by the Kemsley family later in the 16th century. Isabel Kemsley stipulated that her son John should hold 'a drinking' in the village on All Saints' Day and this tradition continued until the 19th century, when it was replaced with the more popular mayday celebrations.

The 19th century owners of the manor were the Romilly family, terminating when it was sold by the widow of the fourth Baron Romilly, William Guy Gospard Romilly (who died in 1983). It was later bought by a family who do not have a title, who sold most of the grounds off.

St Peter's church at Bredhurst is situated in woodland separate to the village. Typical of

Victoria & Albert Museum

as part of their "sacred silver" collection.

Bredhurst was largely untouched during the Blitz and the whole Second World War, however in 1939 evacuation began; the evacuees went to Bredhurst School.

Today most of Bredhurst is still made up of

farms and woodland

; these include Abbots Court farm, Aaron Bank farm and Grange farm. It was reported that there are more livestock living in Bredhurst than people.

Bredhurst School

Bredhurst School was built in 1867 during the later part of the

Independence Day, school treats/picnics, Sunday school outings, choir outings, Bank holidays, all ‘Royal' events and even ‘whim' holidays granted at the Managers discretion. Today there are holidays for Christmas, summer and Easter as well as May Day

and half term breaks.

Over the years the school has had a varied career, apart from being an educational establishment it has also served as a billet for soldiers during World War I, polling station, parish meeting place and evening school. A special meeting of the parish took place in June 1903 to appoint Mr H Chapman as Manager for the School for a period of three years. The school also housed a museum with various exhibits originating from the Victorian era which were used extensively during object lessons.

The police were in attendance regularly on Saturdays from 1913 in order to issue pig licences. Parishioners gathered in the schoolroom in 1919 in order to organise a 'Peace Celebration' for the village in the form of a cricket match, a fair and tea on 19 July 1919 on the village green.

There were very few changes or structural improvements made to the school until after World War II.

References

^ ^a ^b "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 September 2016.

External links

Media related to Bredhurst at Wikimedia Commons

[ONS-1] "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 15 September 2016.

[1]