Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst (or Chalkhurst), commonly known as the Biddenden Maids (1100–1134), were a legendary pair of conjoined twins supposedly born in Biddenden, Kent, England, in the year 1100. They are among the earliest documented cases of conjoined twins in Western history, though the historical accuracy of the account is disputed.
Legend and Tradition
According to tradition, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst were born to relatively wealthy parents in Biddenden, Kent, in 1100. They were said to be joined at both the shoulder and the hip. They lived for 34 years, during which they were reported to have had frequent quarrels. When one sister died suddenly, doctors proposed separating the surviving twin from the deceased body, but she refused, saying "as we came together we will also go together," and died approximately six hours later.
The sisters are said to have bequeathed approximately 20 acres of land (known as the "Bread and Cheese Lands") to the local church, with the income used to provide an annual dole of bread, cheese, and beer to the poor every Easter. This charity is known to have been in operation since at least 1605, and continues to the present day.
Biddenden Cakes
Since at least 1775, the Easter dole has included "Biddenden cakes"—hard biscuits imprinted with an image of two conjoined women. The cakes are baked so hard as to be largely inedible, allowing them to be preserved as souvenirs. They continue to be distributed to widows and pensioners of Biddenden each Easter and sold to visitors.
Historical Authenticity
The historical veracity of the Biddenden Maids is uncertain and has been debated for centuries:
- The earliest recorded account of the legend dates to an anonymous article in The Gentleman's Magazine in August 1770. This account stated that the twins' names were not recorded and that they were known only as the "Maids of Biddenden."
- The names "Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst" first appeared in a broadside published in 1808, and the claimed birth year of 1100 first appeared in a broadside from 1790.
- Historian Edward Hasted, in his 1798 The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, dismissed the story as a "vulgar tradition," claiming the image on the cakes originally represented two poor widows and that the conjoined twin story was a later misinterpretation.
- Antiquarian George Clinch (1900) examined the costumes depicted on the cake moulds and concluded the style of dress dated from the 16th century (reign of Mary I), not the 12th century. He suggested the "1100" date may have originally read "1500," as the old-fashioned numeral 5 could be mistaken for a 1.
- Surnames were not in common use in Kent in the 12th century, casting doubt on the name "Chulkhurst," though records do show a family named Chulkhurst living in Biddenden in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- Surgeon J. W. Ballantyne (1895) proposed from a teratological perspective that the twins may have been pygopagus (joined at the pelvis) rather than at both shoulder and hip, and that the apparent shoulder fusion in drawings was a misinterpretation of the twins putting their arms around each other when walking.
- Researcher Jan Bondeson (1992, 2006) noted that while the names are likely a later addition, the existence of the twins cannot be definitively dismissed. He pointed to Irish chronicles (Chronicon Scotorum, Annals of the Four Masters, Annals of Clonmacnoise) that report conjoined sisters born around 1100, though none mention Kent as the location.
Modern Tradition
In 1907, the Bread and Cheese Lands were sold for housing (now the Chulkhurst Estate), and the charity was amalgamated to form the Biddenden Consolidated Charity, which still operates. Every Easter Monday, bread, cheese, and tea are distributed to local widows and pensioners from the former workhouse in Biddenden. A wrought-iron village sign depicting the Biddenden Maids was erected on Biddenden village green in the 1920s.
