{"id":2491,"date":"2015-12-05T18:26:05","date_gmt":"2015-12-05T18:26:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mardenhistory.org.uk\/home\/?page_id=2491"},"modified":"2025-10-17T22:25:52","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T22:25:52","slug":"past-exhibitions","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.mardenhistory.org.uk\/home\/?page_id=2491","title":{"rendered":"~ Past Exhibitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Events in 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An exhibition about the native language and dialects of the village and county opened on Saturday 17th June 2023 and lasted until the end of August at Heritage Centre Marden Library. <\/span>Marden History Group was delighted to support the Kent Dialect Exhibition which was held at the Library.\u00a0
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Would you know that \u2018sprollucks\u2019 means \u2018one who sprawls out on their feet\u2019. Or being a \u2018keg-meg\u2019 would be \u2018a gossip\u2019? <\/span>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.<\/span><\/p>\n

Events in 2022<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Remembrance Day 2022<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Nigel Jenner of the Marden History Group fired the WW2 siren situated outside the library at 11.30 on Sunday 13 November, followed by Mo Gillis-Coates playing The Last Post.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

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An art exhibition opened at the library on 12 November, 2022 at 1.00pm.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ida Fermor and other Marden artists. There were postcards of Ida\u2019s for sale and prints of her pictures available to order on the day. Great to see all of you who came along and supported us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A Marden based group called Friends of Marden Heritage is having a fundraising barbecue quite soon. They are important supporters of the Marden Heritage Group, so please come along and support them …<\/p>\n

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Weddings in Marden<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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Postcards<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Shops past & present<\/strong><\/p>\n

“In 1938 Kelly\u2019s Directory listed 31 shops and businesses in Marden, excluding farmers, banks, fruit growers and carriers.”<\/p>\n

This booklet<\/a> has been prepared by Roger and Jenny Mallion as a permanent record of the \u201cShops Past and Present\u201d exhibition held in Marden Library and Heritage Centre. Opened on the 2nd<\/sup> April 2016 by Beverley McGaw.<\/p>\n

Who do you think WE are?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cFrom humble beginnings as a motley group of members of the Marden Society, this exhibition traces the timeline, events and highlights of the Marden History Group\u201d<\/p>\n

This booklet<\/a> has been prepared by Roger and Jenny Mallion as a permanent record of the \u2018Who do you think WE are?\u2019\u2019 exhibition held in Marden Library and Heritage Centre.
\nOpened by Kent County Councillor Paulina Stockell on 21st November 2015<\/p>\n

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Shops in Marden, Past and Present Exhibition Official Opening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday 2nd April at 1.00 pm by Marden shopkeeper Bev McGaw<\/p>\n

The Shops in Marden, Past and Present<\/em> exhibition will run in the Heritage Centre, Marden Library for 4 months.<\/p>\n

The Exhibition will cover how Marden was able to supply the Villagers with most of their needs by the number and variety of Shops.<\/p>\n

The whole village used to be alive with shops and you could get everything you needed from Butchers, Bakers, Grocers, Tailors, Drapers, Shoe-makers and Repairers, Stationery and Post Office, Watch and Clockmaker, Coopers, Blacksmiths, Jewellers, Wheelwright, Carpenter, Fruitier, Confectioners and Hairdressers. Goods unable to be purchased were supplied from Maidstone using a horse-drawn \u2018Carrier\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Hopping time in Marden<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe hop pickers were families from Marden \u2013 school did not start until after the hop picking was\u00a0finished at the end of September. Because Marden was one of the busiest hop growing areas, hop\u00a0pickers from London came by train to help\u201d<\/p>\n

This booklet <\/a>has been prepared by Roger and Jenny Mallion as a permanent record of the \u201cHopping\u2019\u2019 exhibition held in Marden Library and Heritage Centre. Opened on the 10th July 2015 by Peter Hall.<\/p>\n

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Hops and Hopping Exhibition Official Opening<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday 11th July at 1.00 pm by Marden Farmer Peter Hall<\/p>\n

Hops have been a major crop in Kent, Sussex and other counties for centuries and they are the sole reason for Kent\u2019s unofficial \u201cbadge\u201d – the Oast House. The flower of the hop plant not only adds flavour to beer, it is an effective preservative for the beer but, sadly, there is now only one hop garden in the Parish of Marden (Farmer Peter Hall\u2019s).<\/p>\n

In previous centuries, the absentee owners of the land would impose taxes on the people who farmed their land so some hop growers started to call their hop fields \u201chop gardens\u201d, in the hope that the owners might assume that they were the equivalent of cottage gardens and limit the tax to be imposed. Until just a few decades ago, the Autumn saw hundreds of people coming from the East End of London to many of the Wealden villages and the character of Marden was changed due largely to the labour-intensive methods then needed to harvest the hops in September and into October if required. Marden Medical Centre stands on the site of the Hoppers\u2019 Hospital and it replaced the Red Cross temporary first aid post that was set up for the hopping season. Hopping and fruit picking were very popular with the people of the London Docks as it was the only holiday they got and, although the accommodation was primitive comprising a corrugated iron hut for the whole family with no \u201cservices\u201d, they were away from the toxic air of London\u2019s East End and they could make money! There are many references to hops and hopping in several of the History Group\u2019s 20-odd publications and in other books we have collected.<\/p>\n

\"Hopping<\/a><\/p>\n

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The Robert & Phyllis Highwood Collection<\/strong><\/p>\n

A new exhibition opened at 2.00pm on the 7th March & will run until 7th July, 2015<\/p>\n

Marden History Group are proud to announce that its new exhibition at the Heritage Centre will celebrate the collection provided by this notable Marden family. The exhibition features illustrations and photographs collated by Robert Highwood, a former farmer, who was also: Chairman of the Parish Council for 24 years, Vice Chairman of the Marden Fruit Show Committee, Chairman of the Staplehurst Branch of the NFU and a governor of Marden School.<\/p>\n

Robert also assisted Phyllis Highwood and Peggy Skelton with the research for their MARDEN A WEALDEN VILLAGE book.<\/p>\n

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You are welcome to come and see the opening of the next Exhibition \u2013 WWI \u2013 Stage II<\/strong><\/p>\n

This will be on Sunday 9th November and will be part of the Village Remembrance Day<\/p>\n