Benenden
| Benenden | |
|---|---|
 Benenden
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| Benenden shown within Kent | |
| Population | 2,374 (2011 Census) |
| OS grid reference | TQ807329 |
| Civil parish |
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| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Cranbrook |
| Postcode district | TN17 |
| Dialling code | 01580 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | |
Benenden is a village and civil parish in the Tunbridge Wells District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the Weald six miles (10 km) to the west of Tenterden. In addition to the main village, Iden Green, East End, Dingleden and Standen Street settlements are included in the parish.
The parish church is dedicated to St George, and is a 19th-century building on the site of a medieval building destroyed in a fire.Benenden School, a private girls boarding school is located to the north of the village.
The place name of Benenden (pronounced Ben-in-dn) derives from Old English meaning Bynna's wooded pasture. Bynning denn became Benindene (1086) Binnigdaenne, Bennedene (c1100) Bynindenne (1253) then the current spelling from 1610.
The Wealden iron industry probably existed in the area from before the Roman period, but evidence of two Roman roads built to take the cast iron from the Weald have been discovered, as well as other finds from the period. The evidence of one road, that between Maidstone and Hastings at Iden Green, is in the form of a paved ford.
The Domesday Book surveyors remarked that Benindene was one of only four places in the Weald to have a church; although like most of the other such, the buildings of the settlement were scattered. From the 14th century places such as Benenden became of industrial importance. The Wealden ironmasters continued what the Romans had done; and the other major industry, cloth-making, also helped to make the village prosperous. By the late 18th century, however, both industries had moved to the industrial north, and Benenden's prosperity was at an end. Benenden had four mills at various times. Wandle Mill, a watermill on the River Rother; East End Mill, a post mill at the site later occupied by the chest hospital, demolished c.1870; and a pair of mills to the east of the village, one of which, Beacon Mill is still standing.
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Wikipedia