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Launched 09/04/2011

Latest update

09/10/2024 06:43

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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

CHARGE AGAINST A Surgeon 1880

On Thursday, at the County Petty Sessions, Mr. D. S. Creswell a surgeon practising at Elham, was summoned for being drunk whilst in charge of a horse and carriage in high-street, Elham, on April 15th. Police-sergeant Lyons said on April 15th lie was on duty, when defendant came driving down the street, and endeavoured to drive over him twice. The Bench dismissed the charge of being drunk whilst in charge of a horse and chaise, but considered the case proved of being drunk and disorderly, and sentenced the defendant to 14 days' hard labour. Notice of appeal was given. Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald - Saturday 22 May 1880

Emma Rigden 1938

News in Brief. FAITHFUL SERVICE On our front page is announced the death of Constance Emma Rigden, of Elham, Kent, the former governess and devoted friend for 51 years of the family of the late Dr. and Mrs. Vere Nicoll. Brigadier & Mrs Fryer (she was daughter of H W Selby-Lowndes, Master of East Kent Hunt from 1900).

International rescue mission 2007

A man in Kent helped save the crew of a yacht as it sank thousand of miles away in Central America. Paul Wilkin, who lives near Folkestone, received an alert call from his friend Jack Crofton, who was sailing off Panama about 5,000 miles away. Mr Crofton had picked up a mayday call from another vessel but couldn't reach local coastguards.So he rang Mr Wilkin, of Ottinge, near Elham, who in turn contacted Dover Coastguard. That led to their Panama counterparts being scrambled.Mr Wilkin, an ex-Royal Navy diver, said: "I was obviously very surprised to get the call." But Jack gave me the longitude and latitude of the yacht in trouble so I was able to relay the message to our coastguards."The yacht got into distress off the Panama Canal on Saturday. The three-man crew clambered onto a reef but their vessel sank. Kent Online


What's in the database
11816 People
6787 Demography entries
2416 Events
1296 Marriages
415 Properties
425 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.

1834 James Hoggins