Barham Kent Family History Guide
Barham is an Ecclesiastical Parish in the county of Kent, created in 1845 from chapelry in Bishopsbourne Ancient Parish.
Alternative names:
Parish church:
Parish registers begin:
- Parish registers: 1558
- Bishop’s Transcripts: 1563
Nonconformists include: Wesleyan Methodist
Table of Contents
Adjacent Parishes
- Kingston
- Adisham
- Ickham
- Wootton
- Sibertswold
- Elham
- Wymynswold
- Upper Hardres
- Denton
Parish History
The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870
BARHAM, a village, a parish, downs, and a sub-district, in the district of Bridge, Kent. The village stands in a valley, under the downs, about 3½ miles SW of Adis ham station on the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, and 6 SE of Canterbury; and has a post office‡ under Canterbury.
The parish comprises 4,500 acres. Real property, £6,058. Pop., 1,090. Houses, 232. The subsoil is chiefly chalk.
The manor belonged early to the see of Canterbury; and was held by Reginald Fitzurse, one of Thomas a Becket’s murderers, and afterwards by Fitzurse’s descendants till the time of James I. The principal residences are Broome-Park, the seat of Sir Henry Chudleigh Oxenden, Bart., and Barham-Court, belonging to GeorgeDering, Esq.
The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £800. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is early decorated English; and has a lofty spire and some neat monuments. Digges, the mathematician, had connexion with the parish; and Admiral Sir T. Thomson was a native.
The downs extend from SE to NW, along the line of Watling-street; and are about 3 miles long. Numerous barrows are on them, of times from early British to later Saxon, showing them to have been scenes of many ancient public events. King John, with his army of 60,000 men, encamped on them, in 1213, prior to the resigning of his crown. Simon de Montford assembled his troops on them, in the time of Henry III., to oppose the landing of Queen Eleanor.
Queen Henrietta Maria, after her landing at Dover in 1625, was met on them by the flower of the English nobility. Several regiments lay posted on them, in the time of Napoleon Buonaparte, to oppose his threatened invasion from Boulogne. Traces of the camp of these regiments, and also a small square ancient camp, still exist.
The Canterbury races, now of little note, are held on the downs; and the election of members for East Kent takes place on them.
The subdistrict comprises thirteen parishes. Acres, 22,871. Pop., 6,296. Houses, 1,257.
Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].
Parish Records
FamilySearch
Administration
- Civil Registration District: Bridge
- Probate Court: Court of the Archdeaconry of Canterbury
- Diocese: Canterbury
- Rural Deanery: Pre-1873 – Bridge, Post-1872 – East Bridge
- Poor Law Union: Bridge
- Hundred: Kinghamford
- Province: Canterbury