Headcorn - Kent Past

Headcorn comes from the Saxon meaning 'trees cut down by Huda to produce a clearing, Hudakaruna'. In 1100 this changed to Hedekaruna and then to Headcorn.

The earliest written records are references in charters of King Wihtred and King Offa to Wick Farm, 724 AD and Little Southernden, 785 AD. Headcorn probably started, as a den or clearing, to which pigs were driven to feed on acorns in the Wealden Forest

The Parish Church is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul and was built on the site of a Saxon chapel in the 11th Century, with additions in every century until the 1400's when the vicar's vestry was built. Kent's Chantry was founded in the Lady Chapel in 1466, under licence from King Edward IV. All this was made possible by prosperity brought to the village by the establishment of the weaving industry, in the reign of King Edward III.

In the 12th Century, the Trinitarian Friars of Mottenden had a friary within the village, although that and the lands were sold at the dissolution.

Headcorn station came into use on 31st August 1842, when passenger services were extended eastwards from Tonbridge.