*Ø* Blogmanac April 12 | Easter Monday
The Biddenden Dole
The Biddenden Maids and the Chulkhurst Charity
The Biddenden Maids, Elisa (or Eliza) and Mary Chulkhurst, were conjoined twins (sometimes called Siamese twins) who were born in Biddenden, Kent, England in 1100. In the popular imagination of the time, the death of King William was associated with the Maids and other 'anomalous' occurrences.They were joined at the hip, although illustrations also depict them joined at the shoulder. Mary and Elisa died in 1134 and left their estate for an unusual charity, associated with Easter Monday. It is said that the death of one was followed in a few hours by the death of the other.
On Easter Monday (some sources say Easter Sunday) some six hundred so-called Biddenden cakes are distributed among parishioners who attended the afternoon services at the church, as well as some about hundred loaves of bread, each of three and a half pounds weight, and each accompanied by a pound and a half of cheese. Beer also used to be distributed until the seventeenth century but the bread, cheese and cakes are still allocated. As well as the picture of the sisters on the cakes their names appear, and on the apron of one is written the number 34 – the age at which Elisa and Mary died.
The endowment comes from the earnings of an estate known as the Bread and Cheese lands, which, according to the best authorities, were some centuries ago left to the parish for this purpose by the Chulkhurst sisters (some sources give their surname as Preston).
The Biddenden cakes have impressed on them the figures of the sisters. What we know of the story of the Biddenden Maids largely comes from a handbill that used to be printed and sold on the spot, entitled 'A Short but Concise Account of Elizabeth and Mary Chalkhurst'.
We note, too, that a similar story has been told of two females whose figures appear in the pavement of Norton St. Philip Church in Somersetshire, England. Edward Hasted in his History of Kent (1798) has examined the Biddenden myth, and decides that it arose simply from the rough impression on the cakes, which had been printed in this manner only within the preceding fifty years.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
The Biddenden Dole
The Biddenden Maids and the Chulkhurst Charity
The Biddenden Maids, Elisa (or Eliza) and Mary Chulkhurst, were conjoined twins (sometimes called Siamese twins) who were born in Biddenden, Kent, England in 1100. In the popular imagination of the time, the death of King William was associated with the Maids and other 'anomalous' occurrences.They were joined at the hip, although illustrations also depict them joined at the shoulder. Mary and Elisa died in 1134 and left their estate for an unusual charity, associated with Easter Monday. It is said that the death of one was followed in a few hours by the death of the other.
On Easter Monday (some sources say Easter Sunday) some six hundred so-called Biddenden cakes are distributed among parishioners who attended the afternoon services at the church, as well as some about hundred loaves of bread, each of three and a half pounds weight, and each accompanied by a pound and a half of cheese. Beer also used to be distributed until the seventeenth century but the bread, cheese and cakes are still allocated. As well as the picture of the sisters on the cakes their names appear, and on the apron of one is written the number 34 – the age at which Elisa and Mary died.
The endowment comes from the earnings of an estate known as the Bread and Cheese lands, which, according to the best authorities, were some centuries ago left to the parish for this purpose by the Chulkhurst sisters (some sources give their surname as Preston).
The Biddenden cakes have impressed on them the figures of the sisters. What we know of the story of the Biddenden Maids largely comes from a handbill that used to be printed and sold on the spot, entitled 'A Short but Concise Account of Elizabeth and Mary Chalkhurst'.
We note, too, that a similar story has been told of two females whose figures appear in the pavement of Norton St. Philip Church in Somersetshire, England. Edward Hasted in his History of Kent (1798) has examined the Biddenden myth, and decides that it arose simply from the rough impression on the cakes, which had been printed in this manner only within the preceding fifty years.
This is just a snippet of today's stories. Read all about today in folklore, historical oddities, inspiration and alternatives, with more links, at the Wilson's Almanac Book of Days, every day. Click today's date when you're there.
Pip Wilson posted item above at 1:09 PM | Permalink
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