TRIBUTE TO CATHERINE ALDERSON – July 2024
Please scroll down to below the general introduction information
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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TRIBUTE TO CATHERINE ALDERSON by Eunice Doswell on behalf of the Marden History Group – July 2024
What a valuable contribution Catherine made to Marden History Group. She joined the group in 2000 when the History Group was first formed; also becoming involved in a history weekend event. Catherine also worked as a member of the steering group. Her belief that the village was quite class based made her determined to help newcomers identify with Marden through information about local amenities including roads and shops etc.
One of her passions was for family research. In 2009, through an analysis of our diary, she set up a database of family visitors. This resulted in a very successful family weekend where each family, from far and wide, displayed their own history in Marden. Working 3 days a week in the History centre in the library for a long time, she added to our catalogue with personal items, copied relevant chapters from books and assisted with displays such as the one we participated in at the Museum of Kent Life featuring Hopping. One interesting outing was to The Palace of Westminster when we were working with Kent Archives on the coming of the railway. The sites of wells in the parish were also investigated.
Another great strength was her writing. Combined with her love of walking she part wrote the History of Marden Aviation and the walk covering this. Several family histories were written along with taking oral histories. All this effort alongside her working with the Marden Medical Centre’s Patient Participation Group and originating walks round the village earned her the Kent Association of Local Council’s Community Award. Warned by her Doctor to ease up a bit she said, “At 80 I’m hoping to lessen the number of things I try to do at once … maybe 2 things instead of 4.”
When her health started to decline Catherine still co-operated with Roger Pitchfork in research and writing. We still have a bag of her work to look through and I guess there is much more to come.
Catherine – Marden village salutes your life and all the various contributions which you made.
The funeral will be held at the Parish Church of Marden on Friday, 26thJuly at 11.00 a.m. All are welcome at the Village Club afterwards.
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.
