Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne is a civil parish

Civil parish

In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in the City of Canterbury

City of Canterbury

The City of Canterbury is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. The main settlement in the district is Canterbury, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.-History:...

 district of Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is located 4 miles south-east of Canterbury.

According to the 2001 census

Census

A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

 it had a population

Population

A population is all the organisms that both belong to the same group or species and live in the same geographical area. The area that is used to define a sexual population is such that inter-breeding is possible between any pair within the area and more probable than cross-breeding with individuals...

 of 868. The parish consists of Bekesbourne

Bekesbourne

Bekesbourne is a village, within the civil parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne, near Canterbury in Kent, South East England.Situated approximately three miles south-east of the city boundary, the village has a church, St Peter's Parish Church which has a Norman doorway, a 13th century chancel...

 and Patrixbourne

Patrixbourne

Patrixbourne is a small settlement within the civil parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne in the Canterbury District of Kent, England. It is located approximately one mile south of Bekesbourne, on the River Nailbourne, a tributary of the Little Stour....

. It is most famous for being the home location of Howletts Wild Animal Park, but it is also renowned for the growing of hops and sunflowers.

It has two churches and has a medieval historical connection with Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer

Thomas Cranmer was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build a favourable case for Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon which resulted in the separation of the English Church from...

, who was responsible for the reform of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 under Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

.