EHS
Logo
divider


Launched 09/04/2011

Latest update

21/02/2025 03:58

divider
Graveyard Memorial Inscriptions
Welcome to the Elham Historical Society database website. Feel free to browse and uncover the history of Elham. Our dedicated team of historians has recently finished recording the details on all the memorials in the graveyard. Our chairman Derek Boughton has overseen the operation, correlating the data and checking for errors. The results of their labours can be seen on the burials page.

Elham beat off stiff competition for the title of Kent Village of the year 2011 organised by Action with Communities in Rural Kent.

Censuses for outlying communities in the parish will be rolled out gradually. Check out the stats page for interesting facts and

trivia about the village. We still need your help so please send us any information relating to Elham that may be of interest.

Les Ames hits out
Les Ames in action

Elham resident Les Ames in action for England against the West Indies in 1939. He was one of the finer wicketkeeper - batsmen and played for Kent CCC.

Abbot's Fireside c 1450
Abbot's Fireside

The Abbot's Fireside is one of the older buildings in the village and probably dates back to the mid fifteenth century.

Audrey attends school
Audrey Hepburn

Audrey Hepburn (neé Rushton) lived in Orchard Cottage (Five Bells) for five years in her childhood (1935-1940) and attended the local village schools. She took ballet lessons and dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina. I wonder what became of her?

George V Playing Field
George V Playing Field

Dave Lee opens Elham's brand new playground with a sensory garden and a pretty flower meadow created by the Play for Elham charity. 21st November 2010

Swing Riots of 1830
Swing Riots

The machine breaking that led to the riots of August 1830 onwards started in the Elham Parish, writes our historian Derek Boughton, who has made a lifetime's study of the subject.

Elham residents were prominent in the gangs that sought out the new fangled threshing machines and destroyed them. Some of them cost the not inconsiderable sum for the day of £100. Full Story

Mary Smith 1904 - 1990

Mary's diary for 1940 was used by the author Dennis Knight as the basis for his book Harvest of Messerschmitts which tells the story of Elham and events during the Battle of Britain. She was educated at Rigden's private school and then accepted to the Simon Langton Girls' School even though she failed the entrance exam. Later she went to University College and Goldsmiths' College, London where she lived away from the sheltered life of Elham. She read English and Latin, emerging with an honours degree and the University Diploma in Education. At the outbreak of war she was teaching at a private school in Folkestone, but this closed down. Harvest of Messerschmitts Mary Smith

New Inn 1895

8 November Bushell & Co. of Westerham now believed to be the owners. Bushell Watkins & Smith, at the Westerham brewery remained owners till c 1950. Their other (relatively) local outlets were The Olive Branch, Buttermarket, and The New Inn, Havelock Street, Canterbury, and the Clarendon, Tontine Street, Folkestone. CKS: U47/3, Elham Manor Court Roll

F.C.Eden 1864

He was a pupil of Bodley and Garner. A second cousin to Elham resident (Robert) Anthony Eden (PM 1955-1957), he started as an architect, but concentrated increasingly on the design of church fittings and stained glass, setting up a studio in Red Lion Square, London around 1910. He was an advocate of clear, crisp use of colour (cf his work at Trevethin). This combination followed the principles of the Art Workers Guild, to which he belonged.

At the end of St. Mary's church are the organ loft, font cover and baptistry, all designed by F.C. Eden, who restored the church in the early 1900s. He also designed the west window of the south aisle as part of a larger scheme which was not completed.

There appears to be a connection with the incumbent vicar, Alard de Bourbel. F.C.Eden's uncle Henley Eden played cricket for The Easter Club alongside Alard's father Augustus. There is reference to a game in 1853 against St. John's Wood at Lord's in which both played. Augustus also played a first-class match for the MCC. F.C.Eden


What's in the database
11820 People
6789 Demography entries
2422 Events
1299 Marriages
415 Properties
427 Photographs
Completed projects ...
  • Properties 1841-1911
  • Demography records 1841-1911 (village only)
  • Cemetery & Graveyard burials
  • Memorial and graveyard inscriptions
Work in progress ...
  • Demography records 1841-1911 (parish)
  • Marriages within the Elham parish
  • Audio/verbal accounts by Elham residents
Coming soon ...
  • Mapping of all properties within the Elham parish
  • List of artefacts
Future projects ...
  • Audio village tour
  • Complete list of shops - past and present
What's new!
Michael Hayes
Doctor Who Producer
Arthur Frederick Broadbridge
Elham resident and diplomat
Charles Alfred Fortin
Elham assistant surgeon
William Lewis Cowley
Elham resident and author
George W Palmer
Graveyard burials
John Midgeley
Henry Clayson
STATS - Facts & Trivia
Windlass Cottage Title Deeds
Church Cottage history back to 1720
Anthony Eden
Prime Minister and Elham resident

EHS
Swing Riots
Les Ames in action
Audrey Hepburn
Letters

EHS Database

Swing Riots of 1830 recounted by Derek Boughton our local expert historian.

Les Ames for England v West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica 1930 or 1935. WK Ivan Barrow watches on.

Audrey Hepburn attended private schools in the village and dreamed of being a ballerina. I wonder what became of her?

What's in the database? Find the latest additions here.

1605 King's Arms