Bekesbourne
Village in Kent, England
title: "Bekesbourne" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["villages-in-kent", "former-civil-parishes-in-kent", "city-of-canterbury"] description: "Village in Kent, England" topic_path: "general/villages-in-kent" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bekesbourne" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Village in Kent, England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox UK place"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| country | England |
| official_name | Bekesbourne |
| coordinates | |
| static_image | House, Bekesbourne, Kent - geograph.org.uk - 328976.jpg |
| static_image_caption | The Old Palace |
| static_image_width | 240px |
| label_position | top |
| population | 925 |
| population_ref | (Civil Parish 2011) |
| area_total_km2 | 8.47 |
| civil_parish | Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne |
| shire_district | Canterbury |
| shire_county | Kent |
| region | South East England |
| constituency_westminster | Canterbury |
| post_town | CANTERBURY |
| postcode_district | CT4 |
| postcode_area | CT |
| os_grid_reference | TR191559 |
| :: |
|country = England
|official_name= Bekesbourne
|coordinates =
|static_image= House, Bekesbourne, Kent - geograph.org.uk - 328976.jpg
|static_image_caption= The Old Palace
|static_image_width= 240px
|label_position= top
|map_type=
|population= 925
|population_ref= (Civil Parish 2011)
|area_total_km2= 8.47
|civil_parish= Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne
|shire_district= Canterbury
|shire_county= Kent
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= Canterbury
|post_town= CANTERBURY
|postcode_district = CT4
|postcode_area= CT|dial_code= 01227
|os_grid_reference= TR191559
Bekesbourne () is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne, in the Canterbury district, in Kent, South-East England. In 1961 the parish had a population of 538.
The village centre is 2.9 mi east-south-east of Canterbury Cathedral and stretches less than 1 km from Bekesbourne railway station to the A2 road to the south.
Amenities
The parish church is dedicated to Saint Peter and has a Norman doorway, a 13th-century chancel and the first recorded example of brick mathematical tiles.
Howletts Wild Animal Park is in Bekesbourne, the home of many endangered species and the world's largest breeding gorilla colony in captivity.
Transport
Bekesbourne railway station serves the area, on the line between Canterbury East and Dover Priory railway stations.
The A2 road borders the south of the village's formal area.
History
Bekesbourne was the site of Bekesbourne Aerodrome, which was established during World War I and thrived as the home of the Kent Flying Club until World War II, when it was closed. One large hangar remained. It was severely damaged by the Great Storm of 1987, but soon rebuilt. It was demolished in 1997, and replaced by 10 detached houses on a new road, De Havillands.
On 1 April 1987 the parish was abolished to form "Bekesbourne with Patrixbourne", part also went to Adisham and the unparished area of Canterbury.
Famous residents
- Bekesbourne was the birthplace of the film director Michael Powell and of Stephen Hales, the physiologist, chemist and inventor.
- Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond books, lived at the Old Palace in Bekesbourne.
References
Sources
References
- [http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density] {{Webarchive. link. (11 February 2003 [[United Kingdom Census 2011]] ''[[Office for National Statistics]]'' Retrieved 21 November 2013)
- "Population statistics Bekesbourne CP/AP through time". [[A Vision of Britain through Time]].
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20031021134010/http://www.canterbury.co.uk/cgi-bin/buildpage.pl?mysql=345 Canterbury City Council]
- "Howletts".
- "Canterbury Registration District". UKBMD.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::