Marden, Kent


Marden is a village and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The village is approximately south of the town of Maidstone. As well as the village the civil parish includes the settlement of Chainhurst and the hamlet of Wanshurst Green.
The parish is located on the flood plain of the River Beult, a tributary of the River Medway. It is in an apple-growing area, and has a population of approximately 4,000 people.

Transport

Marden is 8 miles from Maidstone and 14 miles from Tonbridge. It is on the B2079 linking the A229 Maidstone with the A21 at Flimwell. It has its own railway station on the South Eastern Main Line.

Local amenities

The village has a parish church, dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, and was built at the end of the 12th century. In February 2007, Ann Widdecombe, the local MP, opened the Marden Heritage Centre in Marden Library. The Centre houses archives from Marden's 1000-year history.
To the east of the village is Marden Meadows, three meadows which are cut annually for hay and then grazed. Since 1981, these have been designated a Site of Special Scientific Interest. They are managed by the Kent Trust for Nature Conservation. The meadows contain several scarce species including Ophioglossum, green winged orchid, meadow saxifrage, Oxeye daisy, yellow rattle and within a pond in one of the meadows, two scarce plants, water violet and bladder-sedge are also found.

Education

There is one school: Marden Primary School.

Sport and leisure

Marden Cricket & Hockey Club are based at Days Sport Field. There is also a youth football side. There is a village club. Founded in 1971 is the Marden Bowls Club.

Notable people

On 10 February 1930, a Farman F.63 Goliath crashed at Marden Airfield whilst attempting an emergency landing following the structural failure of the starboard elevator. All of the six people on board were killed.
On 4 January 1969, a passenger train from to overran a signal at danger in fog and crashed into the back of a parcels train. Four people were killed and 11 injured.

Local Media

Newspapers available in Marden are the free Maidstone Extra owned by the KM Group and yourmaidstone by KOSMedia.
The only free independent newspaper to serve the borough of Maidstone is the Downs Mail.
The Local radio station is KMFM Maidstone. Marden is also served by the county-wide stations Heart Kent, Gold and BBC Radio Kent.