Headcorn

Headcorn
Main Street, Headcorn
Headcorn Location within Kent
Population	3,241 (2001)[1] 3,387 (2011 Census)[2]
OS grid reference	TQ837439
Civil parish	Headcorn
District	Maidstone
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ASHFORD
Postcode district	TN27
Dialling code	01622
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Faversham and Mid Kent
List of places UK England Kent 51°10′10″N 0°37′13″E / 51.169549°N 0.620341°E / 51.169549; 0.620341

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^[3] and is home to national champions and world-record holders.^{[citation needed]}

Headcorn railway station is on the South Eastern Main Line between London and Dover. It was opened on 31 August 1842.^{[citation needed]} On 1 December the same year, the South Eastern Railway opened the second section of its main line onward to Ashford.^{[citation needed]} By 1844, trains were running from London to Dover.^{[citation needed]} 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.