On route to another family wedding in Maidstone in Kent (I know…this is the third wedding for us in as many Months), we stopped near a little village called Bearstead. The village is located on the north bank of the river Len, a tributary of the river Medway. The Anglo-Saxon name for the original settlement here was “Bergestede”, meaning place on the hill.
Like most English villages, the village was historically centered around the Church and the village Green. Holy Cross Church located to the south of the green, used to hold a fair here on Holy Cross Day, an ancient festival which can be traced back to 335 AD. Today however, the center of Bearsted retains its traditional village look with 59 listed properties.
