The Biddenden Maids Embroidery

Mary and Elisa Chulkhurst commonly known as the Biddenden Maids, were a pair of conjoined twins supposedly born in Biddenden, Kent, England, in the year 1100. They are said to have been joined at both the shoulder and the hip, and to have lived for 34 years. It is claimed that on their death they gave five plots of land to the village, known as the Bread and Cheese Lands. The income from these lands was used to pay for an annual dole of food and drink to the poor every Easter. Since 1775, the dole has included Biddenden cakes, hard biscuits imprinted with an image of two conjoined women. From the surviving mold that was used to print the cakes, I've designed an embroidered tribute to these lovely creatures, who even though they probably never existed, should have, if this were any kind of world at all.