Welcome to the website and archive of the Marden History Group.
The village of Marden is situated nine miles south of Maidstone in Kent, England. In the Dark Ages herdsmen visited the uninhabited thick forests and marshes of the Weald of Kent in the autumn to feed their pigs on acorns & beech mast. During these visits they lived in clearings known as “dens”. In time these developed into permanent settlements, and so Marden grew. Over the centuries the woollen cloth trade, hops & fruit orchards brought prosperity to the village.
The Marden History Group has adopted this engraving of a den, by Vic Symonds of Marden, as its logo. Through this website we seek to tell the story of the village from its earliest days to times within living memory, through parish records, oral histories, and photographic and written archives. If you have a connection with Marden and have a contribution to make, please get in touch.
Join the History Group – become a member. We have members throughout the world.
Membership will entitle you access to the complete set of digitised records that the History Group has archived over the last fifteen years. With plenty more to come! Marden Parish has the largest collections of historic documents any parish in Kent.
Heritage Centre:
Visit the Heritage Centre and see our collection for yourself. Our centre is situated in a section of the Marden Library.
We have a wide range of digital records on our computers, physical files, historic artefacts, documents and pictures. We also have a unique collection of self-authored books about Marden for sale.
The centre is open for casual browsing whenever the library is open. Enquiry forms will be available on the desk if you would like to arrange further investigations.
We have volunteers who are present for some of the opening hours of the Library listed below.
If you have a specific research request, please email research@mardenhistory.org.uk and arrange a time for you to come. The volunteers can then do some preparation prior to your visit.
Heritage Centre Opening Hours:
- Monday
– Closed - Tuesday
– 10.30 am – 12.30 pm; 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm - Wednesday
– 10.30 am – 12.30 pm; - Thursday
– 10.30 am – 12.30 pm; 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm - Friday
– 10.30 am – 12.30 pm; 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm - Saturday
– 10.00 am to 12.30 pm - Sunday
– Closed
Address:
Marden Library and Heritage Centre, High Street, Marden, Kent, TN12 9DP.
Contacts:
Email: history@mardenhistory.org.uk
Website: http://www.mardenhistory.org.uk
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Exhibition June 2023
Sunday: closed
Marden History Group are delighted to support the Kent Dialect Exhibition which is being held at the Library. Everyone invited.
Kentish was the southern Old English dialect spoken in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Kent. It was one of the four dialect groups in Old English, the other three being Mercian, Northumbrian and West Saxon. The dialect was spoken in what is now the modern-day Counties of Kent, Surrey and southern Hampshire, by the Germanic settlers identified by Bede as Jutes.
Events in 2022
Remembrance Day 2022
Nigel Jenner of the Marden History Group will be firing the WW2 siren situated outside the library at 11.30 on Sunday 13 November, followed by Mo Gillis-Coates playing The Last Post.
All are welcome.
New Exhibition opening at the library on 12 November at 1.00pm.
Ida Fermor and other Marden artists
There will be postcards of Ida’s for sale and prints of her pictures available to order on the day.
Looking forward to seeing you all – please come along and support us.