Tradition says conjoined twins left Biddenden 20 acres for bread and cheese, and the rector sued to take the land

Tradition says Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst were born joined at the shoulder and hip in Biddenden in 1100. When Mary died, Eliza refused to be separated and died about six hours later. The sisters are said to have left about 20 acres, the Bread and Cheese Lands, to pay for an Easter dole for the poor. No will or deed for the gift has been found. The Easter distribution is recorded from 1605. No account of the twins survives before 1770, and their names first appear in print in 1790 and 1808. In 1645 the rector, William Horner, claimed the lands as glebe so the rents would go to him. The Committee for Plundered Ministers ruled for the charity in 1649, and the Court of Exchequer rejected his claim in 1656. The historian Edward Hasted called the twins "a vulgar tradition," and another account says the land came from "two maidens of the name of Preston." A Pitt Rivers Museum study notes that the dates 1100 to 1134 may be a misreading of 1500 to 1534. In 1907 the land was sold for housing and the charity was merged with others. Each Easter Monday at 10 am the Biddenden Consolidated Charity gives bread, cheese and tea to about 60 older residents, and hands out biscuits stamped with two women side by side.