Bapchild

Bapchild is a village and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England, about two miles inside of Sittingbourne. It lies on the old Roman road (Watling Street) now the A2, and according to the 2001 census, the parish had a population of 1,068, including Tonge, increasing to 1,141 at the 2011 Census.[1]

Bapchild
St Lawrence's Church, Bapchild
Bapchild is located in Kent
Bapchild
Bapchild
Location within Kent
Population1,141 (2011 Census)[1]
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townSITTINGBOURNE
Postcode districtME9
Dialling code01795
PoliceKent
FireKent
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament

According to the Kentish antiquarian Edward Hasted in 1800, it was anciently written 'Beccanceld', which he claimed was the Old English for 'moist and bleak' as it was mostly marshland.[2] However this is a false etymology.

The place-name 'Bapchild' is first attested in an Anglo-Saxon charter of 696 AD, where it appears as Baccancelde. It appears as Bacchechild in the Pipe Rolls in 1197, and as Babchilde in 1572 in a charter in the British Museum. The name means 'Bacca's spring'. The second element celde is derived from the Old English ceald from which the modern word 'cold' derives.[3]

According to a late seventh- or early eighth-century charter, the Synod of Baccanceld was held in Bapchild, but historians now believe that the charter is a forgery.[4][5]

The village has its own church, the Grade I listed 'Church of St Lawrence'.[6] in the diocese of Canterbury, in Kent, and in the deanery of Sittingbourne.[2]

Other listed buildings in the parish include, the former post office,[7] No 35, The Street (on the A2 road),[8] and No 1, School Lane [9]

Bapchild was also on the planned extension of the Swale Way, the Sittingbourne Northern Relief road built in 2010/11, which passes over Milton Creek and heads from the A249 road at Kemsley towards the Eurolink Industrial estate in Murston.[10] Plans were to extend it, over the railway to Bapchild, and onwards to the Kent Science Park near Highsted,[11] before joining the M2 Motorway, but these have been put on hold due to cost and planning issues.[12]

References
  1. "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2016.
  2. Hasted, Edward (1800). "Parishes". The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. Institute of Historical Research. 6: 122–132. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
  3. Eilert Ekwall, The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names, pp. 25, 92.
  5. "S22". The Electronic Sawyer: Online Catalogue of Anglo-Saxon Charters. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  6. "Church of St Lawrence, Bapchild". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  7. "The Post Office, Bapchild". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  8. "35, the Street, Bapchild". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  9. "1, School Lane, Bapchild". www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  10. "Sittingbourne Northern Relief Road opens". kentnews.co.uk. 15 December 2011. Archived from the original on 18 September 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  11. "Kent Science Park eyes successful 2012". kentnews.co.uk. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
  12. "Final stage of Northern Relief Road bypass is shelved". courier.co.uk. 16 March 2011. Archived from the original on 6 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
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