Benenden is a beautiful village in the heart of the Wealden countryside, surrounded by picturesque walks, farms and parkland. It boasts a village green popular with cricketers, several places to eat and drink, a community shop run by volunteers, as well as our private hospital, Benenden Hospital. But did you know that the village has a varied history dating from the 11th century?
Read on to discover five facts you probably didn’t know about the village our hospital is situated in.
A short history of Benenden village
Fact 1: The place name Benenden is derived from the Old English Bynning denn, meaning ‘Bynna’s wooded pasture’.
Fact 2: The Domesday Book notes that Benindene (the village’s name from 1086 to c.1100 BC) was one of only four places in the Weald to have a church. The historic church of St. George is still standing to this day!
Fact 3: Benenden was an important industrial centre from the 14th century onwards. Many residents were involved with cloth-making, including weaving, dyeing, fulling - to smooth the fabric - and shearing, to remove the fuzzy ‘nap’.
Fact 4: In 1940, Benenden School was evacuated from Kent and moved to Newquay, Cornwall, so that the building could be used as a military hospital during the Second World War.
Fact 5: Benenden had four watermills: a pair of mills to the east of the village, Wandle Mill and East End Mill on a site that our hospital eventually occupied.
[Source: Wikipedia]
The history of Benenden Hospital
In 1905 Charles Garland set up the National Association for the Establishment and Maintenance of Sanatoria for Workers Suffering from Tuberculosis Friendly Society (known today as Benenden Health).
The hospital’s foundation stone was laid the following year in 1906 (this still has pride of place in the hospital today) and in 1907 we began welcoming Post Office workers who recovered in the peaceful and naturally beautiful surroundings that patients of Benenden Hospital still enjoy today.
With declining TB cases, the Benenden Healthcare Society expanded to include treatments for cancer and chest complaints, and a theatre, x-ray department and surgical wards were built shortly after.
Find out more about our hospital’s history.
If you have a story about or photographs of the Benenden area or our hospital and would be willing to share them, please send them to marketingbht@benenden.org.uk.
Published on 19 May 2023