BIDDENDEN, a parish in the hundred of BARCLAY, lathe of SCRAY, county of KENT, 5 miles (E. by N.) from Cranbrooke, containing 1544 inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the archdeaconry and diocese of Canterbury, rated in the king's books at £35, and in the patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to All. Saints, is a fine structure in the later style of English architecture, with an embattled tower and turret. This place' was once famous for its clothing trade, now entirely decayed. Fairs for Welch cattle are held on Old Lady-day and November 8th. John Mayne, in 1566, bequeathed a sum for the erection of a school-house, and endowed it with a rent-charge of £20. 3. 4., which is applied for teaching twelve boys. An annual distribution of bread and cheese to the poor parishioners takes place on Easter- Sunday, the expense of which is defrayed from the rental of about twenty acres of land, the reputed bequest of the Biddenden Maids, two sisters of the name of Chulkhurst, who, according to an uriauthenticated tradition, were born joined together by the hips and shoulders, in the year HOOj and having lived in that state to the age of thirty-four, died within about six hours of each other. To perpetuate the remembrance of this extraordinary circumstance, cakes, bearing a corresponding impression of the figures of two females, are given, on the same day, to all who apply. Hasted, coinciding in the general opinion of the fabulousness of this tale, states that the print on the cakes is of modern origin, and considers the land to have been given by two maidens named Preston.