Timeline

2007 First commercial vineyard planted, Plain Road
2003 Marden holds first Village Festival
2000 Millenium Walk planted
1995-96 Sutton Forge, Barnes Walk, Roundel Way built
1995 Restricted parking (yellow lines) throughout village
1994 Parish Council Centenary celebration
1993 First bottle banks in Car Park
January – Fire destroys M J Pallets & Inprint Printers in Pattenden Lane
July – Tyre dump fire in Pattenden Lane pollutes River
1992-93 Extension to Cemetery
1990-92 School extension
1987 New railway station building and Meades Close built
1986 Chantry Place demolished, Bramley Court built
1985 Lime Close built
1984 Saw Mill demolished. New village sign unveiled, to replace the original
1983 Medical Centre and Ballard Close built
1982 Public Conveniences officially opened
1981 Village sign competition held
1980 New railway bridge, Pattenden Lane
1977 New Library and Car Park built, opened by Councillor TW Kemsley on 4th April. Sovereigns Way, Barrel Arch Close, Lucks Way and Cockpits Estate built
1971 Electric street lighting installed
1969 January 4th – Train crash in fog, 4 people killed, 11 injured
1968 New Playing Field opens
1965 New Vicarage built
1962 Stained glass East window and North and South Sanctuary lancets designed by Patrick Reytiens made for the Parish Church
1953 Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, visits Fruit Show
1951 Chantry Road built
1950 Beginning of Pattenden Lane Industrial Estate. Library transfers to Memorial Hall
1949 South Road built
1944 July 3rd – Flying bomb shot down by anti-aircraft fire falls on Army Camp in Pattenden Lane, killing 11 & seriously injuring 8
1943-44 Laying of the PLUTO pipeline
1941 Feb 4th – Two bombs fall on houses and shops in Maidstone Road killing 5 & seriously injuring 3
1940 Sept 5th – Franz von Werra (German ace pilot) shot down over Marden
Sept 15th – At climax of Battle of Britain, Hurricane pilot bales out over Church Farm
Oct 25th – During attack on Maidstone, Messerschmidt plane is brought down by British planes, pilot injured
1937 Council Houses in Howland Road built
1934 Church School converted to Memorial Hall as a memorial to Mr Edward Day
1933 First sewers in Marden
1930 Marden Market closes. Feb 10th – plane crashes in Marden en route from Paris to London, honeymoon couple killed, 4 people survive
1928 Hop Pickers Hospital opens
1926 Marden Womens’ Institute inaugurated
1922 A Library Service opens in Village School
1913 Maidstone and District Bus Co. open bus line from Maidstone to Goudhurst and Hawkhurst via Marden – Service 6
1909 Church bells recast from 6 to 8 bells
1907 Parish Pump locked up due to contamination. Founding of Working Men’s Club
1904 Gas street lighting
1899 Parish Pump erected by Parish Council
1896-7 New school buildings erected to accomodate 500 children
1895 3 deliveries of mail and 3 dispatches daily, 1 on Sundays
1887 To mark Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, Vestry at south east corner of Church is built, with a generous contribution from the Cornwallis family
1882 Stocks removed from ancient Court House to the Church
1874 Letters arrive at 7am and are despatched at 7pm
1871 Population is 2333
1864 Roman gold coin found at Boy’s Spur Farm
1859 Church School built by public subscription of £1600
1851 Undersea cable from Dover to Calais completed, telegraph in railway station can communicate with Paris
1842 South Eastern and Chatham Railway comes to Marden – there are 6 trains a day
1841 Population is 2676, with 2 inns, 6 beerhouses, 7 grocers
1840-41 Mammoth fossil found in cuttings for the railway
1839 Letters arrive at 8am and are dispatched at 6pm
1838 Henry Newish and John Hurt and their families emigrate to New South Wales assisted by the Parish
1821 Population is 2051, with 1100 males and 951 females living in 353 dwellings
1804 Parish is divided into 4 districts for Poor Relief – Beech, Plain, Pattenden, Stilebridge and Wadhurst Green
1799 Approximately 1500 inhabitants living in 300 houses
1794 Marden described as “3 streets badly paved” and the houses “but meanly built”
1793 Money raised from the Turnpike was £21.11s.3d
1790 Workhouse erected at a cost of £529.2s.8d
1763 Parish Church beautified by subscription, at a cost of £396.3s.9d
1755 Maplesden Charity is instituted
1707 to 1725 Mary Allen and her son leave money to the poor from the rent of land
1666 Pest House at Beech Farm is used to house victims of the Great Plague
1653-58 During Commonwealth St Michael’s font is destroyed by the vicar
1648 The Earl of Pembroke purchases Marden
1642-46 During the Civil War cannon and cannon balls are made at the Weald iron foundry
1640 Three clothiers from the area invent a new process of dyeing
approx. 1635 Marden passes from Charles I to Sir Edward Browne and Mr Christopher Favell
1632 Edward Maplesden leaves rents from a house and land to the poor
1607 James I makes Merdenne over to Sir Henry Brown
1569 420 families are registered in Merdenne
Richard Turner leaves proceeds of land to be devoted to the use of the poor
1560 Marriage and burial records begin in the Church
1559 Baptism registers begin in the Church
1557 300 families with 500 adult communicants in Merdenne
1554 Fire destroys the chancel and chapel roof of St Michaels Church
The Wyatt Rebellion – Sir Thomas Isley of Reed Court is executed and his land is given to Sir John Baker, the Attorney General
1525 Henry VIII takes money from Merdenne to be given to Cardinal Wolsey
1400 The Jack Cade rebellion march on London – Merdenne men John Rolf, John Nash and Thomas Peppymbury are later pardoned
1381 John Monselow found not guilty of plotting to burn down Maidstone in the Peasants Revolt
1352 First recorded vicar is William de Welde
1348-9 Black Death
1336 Beginnings of the cloth trade in Merdenne when Act of Edward III invites Flemish weavers to England
1291 Queen Eleanor, widow of Henry II dies and Merdenne with the Hundred of Milton is returned to her son Edward I, valued at £22.13s.8d per annum
1283 Edward I commands an annual market to be held in Merdenne which continues for 500 years
1272-1307 During reign of Edward I a man is fined half a mark for burning 32 trees for charcoal “in the wood of the Lord King”
1235 20 tree trunks are cut from the woods of Henry III at Mereden and presented to the Abbot of St Radigund at Dover for the building of a Refectory
1216-17 Port Reeve of Milton, William Kensham, musters men of Maeredaen to harry French troops who were supporting the barons against King John
1170 Maeredaen is held for the Crown by Richard de Luci, Lord Chief Justice of England who retires to found the Abbey of Lesnes near Dartford
1066 At the Domesday survey the manor and hundred of Maere Denn are part of the King’s manor of Milton
Dark Ages Herdsmen bring their stock to feed on acorns in clearings (dens) in the forest of Anderida
Pre-history 13 Bronze Age objects left in a pottery vessel. Various Stone Age axes and tools deposited in the area. Mammoth dies, leaving a fossil which was discovered during the cutting of the railway line in 1840-1

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