| Boughton under Blean | |
|---|---|
 St Peter and St Paul's church | |
  Boughton under Blean Location withinKent | |
| Population | 1,917 (2011 Census)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TR066591 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | FAVERSHAM |
| Postcode district | ME13 |
| Dialling code | 01227 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°17′31″N0°58′26″E / 51.292°N 0.974°E /51.292; 0.974 | |
Boughton under Blean (listenⓘ) is a village andcivil parish betweenFaversham andCanterbury in south-eastEngland. "Boughton under Blean" technically refers only to the hamlet at the top of Boughton Hill; the main village at the foot of the hill is named Boughton Street, but the whole is referred to as "Boughton under Blean" or more commonly as just "Boughton". The Blean refers to the Forest of Blean, an area of long-standing Kent woodland covering over 11 square miles (28.5 sq. km).
It had a population of 1,917 according to the2011 Census.[1] The parish includes the hamlet of Crouch.
Before the opening of theA2 Boughton bypass in 1976, Boughton lay on the main route between London and Canterbury. Having passed through the village and climbed Boughton Hill, it is the first place from which the towers ofCanterbury Cathedral can be seen when travelling from the direction ofLondon. This gains a mention inChaucer'sCanterbury Tales, in 'The Canon's Yeoman's Prologue'.
Boughton under Blean is also mentioned in the context of Chaucer inFrank Herbert'sChildren of Dune: "For a timehe amused himself by reviewing Chaucer's route from London to Canterbury, listing the places fromSouthwark: two miles to the watering-place ofSt Thomas, five miles toDeptford, six miles toGreenwich, thirty miles toRochester, forty miles toSittingbourne, fifty-five miles to Boughton under Blean, fifty-eight miles toHarbledown, and sixty miles to Canterbury. It gave him a sense of timeless buoyancy to know that few in his universe would recall Chaucer or know any London except the village on Gansireed."
The poet and translator Sir Thomas Hawkins was baptised on 20 July 1575 at Boughton under Blean, as the eldest son of Sir Thomas Hawkins (1548/9–1617) of Nash Court, Boughton, and his wife, Ann (1552–1616), daughter of Cameron-Fleming-Fido and Cyriac Pettyt of Colkyns, also in Boughton. His 1625 translationThe Odes of Horace the Best of Lyrick Poets was republished in 1631, 1635 and 1638, and plagiarized in 1652. He died in the parish of St Sepulchre's,London, probably in late 1640. The family remainedRoman Catholic until well into the 18th century. Nash Court was attacked by a Protestant crowd during the 1715Jacobean uprising, and Hawkins's valuable library destroyed.[2]The church of St Peter and St Paul contains a monument to Hawkins which is the work ofEpiphanius Evesham.[3]
The member of parliament for the Faversham & Mid Kent constituency, which includes Boughton under Blean, since the2015 UK general election isHelen Whately of theConservative party.
Boughton under Blean is part of theelectoral ward called Boughton and Courtenay. This parish had a population of 5,626 at the 2011 Census.[4]
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