[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] 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.

A Neolithic polished flint axe was found in the stream near the present school in Headcorn, and a bronze palstave axehead dating from the Bronze Age from New House Farm, found during fieldwork directed by Neil Aldridge reveal the presence of people in the area from very early times.

There is evidence from one site in the south of the parish near New House for a probable farmstead that dates from the prehistoric Iron Age into the early Roman period.

An extensive series of Iron Age, Romano-British and Medieval sites have also been recorded by fieldwork directed by Neil Aldridge and the Kent Archaeological Society some one and a quarter miles north of these finds in the parish of Ulcombe.

These include iron-working hearths, burials, a sill beam Roman building dating to the 2nd century AD, with an earlier sunken-floored 'Grubenhaus' type structure underlying it, and an early Medieval site, ref:(Kent County Council Heritage database).

A probable Roman road passes close to Southernden linking Sutton Valence, Ashford, and Lympne; this was recorded by Neil Aldridge and the Kent Archaeological Society and later published in Archaeologia Cantiana in 2006.

Headcorn may have originated as a "denn" or clearing, to which pigs were driven to feed on acorns in the Wealden Forest from manorial properties located in north-eastern Kent, such as Ospringe at Faversham.

In 1251, the Master and Brethren of Ospringe were granted a weekly market on Thursdays and an annual fair at Headcorn on 29 June, St. Peter and St. Paul's Day.

During the excavations earlier material including Roman pottery and a coin was found at Moatenden, indicating settlement here over an extended period.

The prosperity brought to Headcorn by the weaving industry, established in the reign of King Edward III, is reflected in the houses built at that time and the enlargement of the Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul.

However, Ian Mitchell of the Forestry Commission, an expert on old oaks, compared his own measurements taken in 1967 with those made by Robert Furley FSA, in 1878 and estimated it to be only 500 years old.

The exact date of the first Methodist Society in Headcorn is uncertain, but it built its first chapel for worship separate from the parish church in 1805.

Before railways, the George Inn on Borough High Street was the hub of coach services to Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

At 7:00 am on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, the Tenterden Coach set out on a 10-hour journey of 55 ¼ miles, passing through Headcorn.

An advertisement of 1750, illustrates R. Hammond's Tenterden, Staplehurst, Biddenden, Headcorn and Town Sutton stage wagon, with a team of eight horses.

On 31 October 1904, the Headcorn, Sutton Valence and Maidstone Motor Omnibus Co., Ltd. opened a service using steam vehicles.

In 1940, following the evacuation from Dunkirk, many thousands of British and allied troops received their first meal in England at Headcorn Station.

The Aerodrome at Shenley Farm, first used by one aircraft in the 1920s, served as an advanced landing ground for Canadians and then Americans in World War II.

The scantlings in the front upper floor of 25 extend through into 23 High Street and indicate the size and importance of this timber-framed building.