History of Boughton under Blean

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Boughton under Blean comes from the Old English ‘boc’ meaning ‘beech-tree‘ and ‘tun’ as an ‘enclosure, a farmstead’; therefore, ‘farmstead where the beech-tree grows’. The affix comes from the village’s situation under the forest of Blean, distinguishing it from others with the same name. The Domesday Book records all as Boltune or Boltone.

Boughton under Blean parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Peter and Saint Paul. The Normans first built the church in the 12th century, with the rebuilding of the chancel and south chapel in the following two centuries. They added the aisles and west tower in the 15th century. In 1566, there is a record of three bells, with a fourth added in 1589. Sir Humphrey Tufton donated another bell in 1624. Samuel Knight augmented the bells to six in 1729. In 1798, Edward Hasted described the Boughton under Blean church as consisting of a ‘body and two isles, a high chancel belonging to the parsonage, and two side chancels or chapels’. In 1871, the Victorian architect J P St. Aubyn carried out a major restoration involving new flooring, seating and roofing of the aisles and south chapel. John Warner completed the octave in 1890, with the addition of two treble bells…. more