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The Biddenden Maids, on a cake - The Biddenden Maids, Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, were probably the best-known conjoined twins before Chang and Eng. The girls were born in 1100 to a wealthy family in the village of Biddenden, Kent, England. They were joined at the hip and were likely pygopagus twins; illustrations show them also joined at the shoulder, although no documented set of conjoined twins has ever shared multiple points of juncture. This illusion was probably created when the sisters walked with their arms wound around each other's shoulders. When the girls died in 1134, they left their entire fortune to the church. Until the early 1900s, a festival held in Biddenden commemorated the generous gift of the twins, and "Biddenden cakes", which were made in plaster molds bearing an image of the Chulkhurst sisters, were given to the poor. Today, a collection of cottages known as the Chulkhurst estate stands on the 20 acres donated to the church by the sisters. When one sister died, the other refused to be separated (probably a wise decision, given the medical technology of the 12th century) and died six hours later. The Chulkhurst sisters are discussed at length in Bondeson's The Two-Headed Boy - ?Topfoto / Fortean
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