Blean
{{Short description|Village in Kent, England}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox UK place
|country = England
|official_name= Blean
|coordinates = {{coord|51.307|1.043|display=inline,title}}
|population = 5,589
|population_ref=(Civil Parish 2011)[http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030211201309/http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/ |date=11 February 2003 }} United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
|area_total_km2=13.67
|static_image_name = File:The church of St Cosmus and St Damian, Blean - geograph.org.uk - 752048.jpg
|static_image_caption = Church of St Cosmus and St Damian
|civil_parish= Blean
|shire_district= City of Canterbury
|shire_county= Kent
|region= South East England
|constituency_westminster= Canterbury
|post_town= CANTERBURY
|postcode_district = CT2
|postcode_area= CT
|dial_code= 01227
|os_grid_reference= TR119608
}}
Blean is a village and civil parish{{cite web|url=https://mapit.mysociety.org/area/153729.html|title=Blean|publisher=Mapit|access-date=15 May 2019}} in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. The civil parish is large and is mostly woodland, much of which is ancient woodland. The developed village within the parish is scattered along the road between Canterbury and Whitstable, in the middle of the Forest of Blean. The parish of St Cosmus and St Damian in the Blean was renamed "Blean" on 1 April 2019.{{cite web|url=http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/Reviews/South%20East/Kent/CGRs/Canterbury%20CGR.pdf|title=The Canterbury City Council (Reorganisation of Community Governance) Order 2018|publisher=Local Government Boundary Commission for England|access-date=15 May 2019|archive-date=3 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903091345/http://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/Reviews/South%20East/Kent/CGRs/Canterbury%20CGR.pdf|url-status=dead}}
History
According to Edward Hasted's 1800 county study, the village was once part of the king's ancient forest of Blean in the hundred of Westgate.{{cite journal |last=Hasted |first=Edward |year=1800 |title=Parishes |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=62986 |journal=The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |volume=9 |pages=2–7 |access-date=12 February 2014}}
The name Blean is the dative form of the Old English word ‘blea’ which means rough ground.{{cite web|url=http://kepn.nottingham.ac.uk/map/place/Kent/Blean|title=Key to English Place-names|first=University of Nottingham - Institute of Name Studies School of|last=English|website=kepn.nottingham.ac.uk|access-date=6 July 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bleanparishcouncil.co.uk/|title=Blean Parish Council}} Therefore the full name of the parish meant "the church of Saints Cosmas and Damian (sic) in the rough ground."
In 1835, the Blean Union Workhouse, designed by William Edmunds, was built on four acres south of Herne Common. The design was based on Sir Francis Bond Head's Plan of a Rural Workhouse for 500 Persons, a publication of the Poor Law Commission. To keep costs down, no outside drains were added, and the building was windowless. Discipline was severe. A nine-year-old girl was once punished for a small offence by being forced to remain overnight in the mortuary with a corpse; however, the Master and Matron were dismissed as a result.{{cite web |title=Blean, Kent |url=http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Blean/ |website=The Workhouse: The Story of an Institution |access-date=27 January 2019}}
Amenities
The village has a druid woodland sculpture park, noted for its large sleeping dragon. The east of the village has a hall and recreation ground used for sports.
The parish church is about half a mile from the village centre. It is dedicated to St Cosmus and St Damian and emphasising some kind of descriptor of the land itself, has always been suffixed 'in the Blean'. It is a 13th-century building and Grade II* listed, the second highest designation in the national grading scheme.{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-171415-church-of-st-cosmus-and-st-damian-st-cos |title=Church of St Cosmus and St Damian, St Cosmus and St Damian in the Blean |website =www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk |access-date=12 February 2014 }}{{National Heritage List for England| num=1085522 |desc=Church of St Cosmus and St Damian |grade=II* |accessdate=2 September 2015}}
The village contains two pubs, a cafe, an archery store and a corner store.{{cn|date=October 2024}}
Governance
Blean is part of the electoral ward of Blean Forest. The population of this ward at the 2011 census was 6,176.{{cite web|url=http://www.ukcensusdata.com/blean-forest-e05004904#sthash.eo8sJUXx.dpbs|title=Blean Forest Ward population 2011|access-date=2 October 2015}}
Its current Lord Mayor is Neil Barry Todd
Economy
Blean's economy is closely tied to Canterbury and to a lesser extent, Whitstable. In television entertainment Smallfilms operates here the production company that created the animated series Ivor the Engine, Bagpuss and the Clangers, at Peter Firmin's barn on the Blean farm. The bay window of Firmin's house was featured in the opening sequence of Bagpuss.{{cite web |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7773124.stm|title= Bagpuss - See Emily Play|access-date=2008-09-12 |work= BBC | date=9 December 2008 | location=London}}
Eponyms
The Hunt-class destroyer HMS Blean was named after the village's Blean Beagles hunt.{{cn|date=December 2021}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bleanchurch.net/ Parish Church of St Cosmus & St Damian in the Blean]
{{Commons category|Blean}}
{{Canterbury}}
{{authority control}}
Category:Civil parishes in Kent
{{Kent-geo-stub}}