Staplehurst rail crash

Royal Air Force Staplehurst or more simply RAF Staplehurst is a former Royal Air Force Advanced Landing Ground located in Kent, England. The airfield is located approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) northeast of Staplehurst; about 38 miles (61 km) southeast of London. Opened in 1943, Staplehurst was a prototype for temporary Advanced Landing Grounds built in France after D-Day, and as the Allied forces moved east across France and Germany. It was used by the Royal Air Force, Canadian and the United States Army Air Forces. It was closed in September 1944. Today the airfield is a mixture of agricultural fields with no recognisable remains, except a memorial now near the site.

Staplehurst Monarchs Football Club is a football club based in Staplehurst, England. They are currently members of the Southern Counties East League Division One and play at the Jubilee Sports Ground.

Hawkenbury is a hamlet in the Maidstone district of Kent, England, in the civil parish of Staplehurst. Hawkenbury is approximately 2 miles north-east of Staplehurst and 2 miles north-west of Headcorn. Amenities include a pub with rooms, campsite and garden centre.

Staplehurst is a town and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England, 9 miles (14 km) south of the town of Maidstone and with a population of 6,003. The village lies on the route of a Roman road, which is now incorporated into the course of the A229. The name Staplehurst comes from the Old English 'stapol' meaning a 'post, pillar' and 'hyrst', as a 'wooded hill'; therefore, 'wooded-hill at a post', a possible reference to a boundary marker at the position of All Saints' church atop the hill along the road from Maidstone to Cranbrook. The parish includes the hamlet of Hawkenbury.

Moatenden Priory was a priory located at Headcorn, about six miles south of Maidstone in Kent, England.

All Saints Church is a parish church in the village of Staplehurst, Kent, England. It is a Grade I listed building.

Staplehurst railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line in England, serving the village of Staplehurst, Kent. It is 41 miles 70 chains (67.4 km) down the line from London Charing Cross . The station and all trains that serve the station are operated by Southeastern. The station opened in August 1842. It is well known for the Staplehurst rail crash on 9 June 1865 on which Charles Dickens was a passenger.

Frittenden is a village and civil parish in the Tunbridge Wells District of Kent, England. The parish is located on the flood plain of one of the tributaries of the River Medway, 15 miles (24 km) to the east of Tunbridge Wells: the village is three miles (4.8 km) south of Headcorn. It is in a very rural part of Kent. The parish church is dedicated to St Mary.

St Peter's and St Paul's Church is a parish church in Headcorn, Kent dedicated to saints Peter and Paul. It was begun in the 13th century. The church is a Grade I listed building.

The Headcorn and Maidstone Junction Light Railway was a proposed railway in Kent. An Act of Parliament authorised its construction, but only a short branch at Tovil, opened to goods only, was built.

Headcorn is a village and civil parish in the borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The parish is on the floodplain of the River Beult south east of Maidstone. The village is 8 mi (13 km) southeast of Maidstone, on the A274 road to Tenterden. In addition to the parish church, dedicated to saints Peter and Paul, there are also churches and chapels for the Methodist, Baptist and Roman Catholic congregations. There is a small airfield located nearby, where there is an aviation museum and a parachuting centre. Headcorn Parachute Club is the only skydiving club in Kent and is home to national champions and world-record holders.Headcorn railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line between London and Dover. It was opened on 31 August 1842. On 1 December the same year, the South Eastern Railway opened the second section of its main line onward to Ashford. By 1844, trains were running from London to Dover. In June 1865 Charles Dickens was involved in a serious railway accident to the west of the village in Staplehurst on a bridge over the River Beult.

Maidstone and The Weald is a constituency in Kent represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Helen Grant of the Conservative Party. She succeeded fellow party member Ann Widdecombe, who had held the seat since it was created for the 1997 general election. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the seat will be subject to boundary changes, losing southern, rural areas ("The Weald") to the newly created constituency of Weald of Kent. To compensate, it will gain parts of the Borough of Tonbridge and Malling, including the town of West Malling. As a consequence, it will be renamed Maidstone and Malling, to be first contested at the next general election.