Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Bishopsbourne
Bishopsbourne comes from the Old English ‘burna’ meaning a ‘stream’. The later affix ‘Bishop’, from its possession by the Archbishop of Canterbury, distinguishes it from other villages with the same name. The Domesday Book records Bishopsbourne as Burnes.
Bishopsbourne parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Mary
the Virgin. The Normans built the first church, although, totally rebuilt, on a larger
scale, in the second half of the 13th century, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who
possessed it. Further remodelling took place in the 15th century, including construction
of the tower. There is a record of four bells in 1500. In 1800, Edward Hasted described
the Bishopsbourne church as ‘a large building, consisting of three isles and three
chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end, in which are four bells. This church
is a large handsome building, but it is not kept so comely as it ought to be’. The
Victorians restored the southern chapel in 1853, and the architect Sir George Gilbert
Scott carried out a major restoration in 1872. In 1974, Whitechapel, broke up and
sold the 2nd bell and in the following year, rehung the other three together with
one originally cast, by Robert Mot, for St Mary Bredman, Canterbury…. more
Bishopsbourne
railway station opened on the South Eastern Railway’s Elham Valley Line -