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

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

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 (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

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

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

Fatal Accident 1886

On Thursday the East Kent Coroner R.M. Mercer Esq.) held an inquest at the New Inn, Elham, on the body of George Palmer, a farmer, 54 years of age, residing at Parsonage Farm. In riding through the doorway of the Black Duck beerhouse, deceased was caught by the board, and pulled off the horse. His foot was caught in the stirrup, and he was dragged through the gateway. Mr Cresswell afterwards examined him, and found he had fractured his spine. The jury found that the deceased died from a fracture of his spine received from falling from his horse. Kentish Gazette, 28 Oct. 1886, 6b

Thomas Thompson 1772

The Elham vicar was also near the close of his life when he wrote "The African Trade for Negro Slaves" which was shewn to be consistent with the Principles of Humanity and with the Laws of Revealed Religion, 1772: in which " without considering the subject very deeply, he draws his arguments from Aristotle and his illustrations from the Pentateuch."

Plymouth Argyle 1965

Elham resident Derek Ufton won 39 games out of 111 in his three year stay. When Malcolm Allison left Home Park for Manchester City in 1965, Derek was appointed manager and immediately embarked on a policy of transforming the team. One of his policies was to sell off the players who would command the highest transfer fees and replace them with cheaper equivalents. This paid off financially as the club made a net profit of nearly £50,000, but it made little difference to Argyle's fortunes on the pitch. Derek was well-liked by the Argyle faithful, but in his first two seasons at the helm the Pilgrims failed to progress, finishing in the bottom half of the Second Division. Early in 1967-1968 things became even worse. By February 1968, relegation seemed certain: Argyle were out of both Cup competitions and had won just three games in 25. Derek was sacked, and never managed a football team again. Greens on Screen

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.

1450 Abbot's Fireside

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Les Ames (1905 - 1990)

Former Elham resident Leslie Ethelbert George Ames CBE; who died suddenly at his home in Canterbury on February 26 1990 - aged 84 - was without a doubt the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman the game has so far produced; and yet - at the time he was playing - it used to be said there were better wicketkeepers than Ames - and that he was in the England team because of his batting. If this was so would Jardine - for example - have preferred him to Duckworth in Australia in 1932-33?

Surely not. When fully fit - Ames was England's first-choice wicketkeeper from 1931 to 1939 - when he virtually gave up the job. For Kent - he was an integral part of their Championship side from 1927 to the first match of 1951 - when a sharp recurrence of back trouble - which had dogged him for so long - brought his career to an end while he was actually at the crease. By this time he had amassed 37248 runs - average 43.51 - made 102 hundreds - including nine double-hundreds - and passed 1000 runs in a season seventeen times - going on to 3000 once and 2000 on five occasions. He had had a direct interest in 1121 dismissals - of which more than 1000 were effected when he was keeping wicket. His total of 418 stumpings is easily a record.

In Test cricket - Ames played 47 matches - scoring 2434 runs with a batting average of 40.56 - and taking 74 catches - and 23 stumpings. Record 8th wicket partnership in all tests of 246 with GO Allen :Made 123 in the pre-lunch session of the 1923 test against South Africa (a record for runs in a session): Scored centuries against every first-class county apart from Kent. Unusually for a wicket-keeper - he also bowled over 200 overs - taking 24 first-class wickets with a bowling average of 33.37.

Ames was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1929. He was a pupil at the Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone and he also played five times for Gillingham FC.

1450 Abbot's Fireside

On the mantlepiece it says “Richard Hayes The Smithies Arms 1614”, and this date is consistent with the style of timberframing on the front, and the brickwork of the gable. The house was indeed a fine one when first built. It had four large windows on the first floor, of which three remain intact. These have transoms and mullions with the tvpical 'Ovolo' moulding of the period, and with small 'Frieze' windows on each side, under the eaves, and now blocked. The small leaded diamond panes still have some glass in them. The overhang of the first floor, and also the eaves are supported by a number of grotesquely carved brackets, one of which will be seen to be a mermaid.
The front of the ground floor has been somewhat altered, and here the two smaller bay windows on the right were inserted in the 18th century, the other two being modern. The attractive front door, and door just inside it are original. A wide stairway once went up in the centre of the house, and part of it may still be seen.

The upstairs rooms of the Abbot's Fireside were once decorated with a painted design of flowers and birds. Several pieces of this design could be seen until a few years ago, but now only one fragment is still preserved under glass.

The north end of the building, known as 'The Cottage', and now part of the restaurant, is a very interesting small house and shop of the 18th century. The shop front and doorway with fanlight is original, but the door has been replaced. It was formerly a baker's shop, and it still has the remains of two chimney breasts at the north end, one for a bread oven.

The handsome original door of the Abbot's Fireside. Note the carved fascia on the overhang, and the plaque issued by the Committee for the Preservation of Rural Kent and the Kent Archaeological Society, for a building of outstanding interest.

Edward Hayes (or Haies) took a mortgage for £100 with Edmund Chambers of Canterbury, milliner, 17 January 1660; £70 remaining transferred to Humphrey Bedingfeild of Elmsted, gent, 5 February 1663, to William Bedingfield of Elmsted, gent under his will. William Bedingfield to John Ashby (£81) 22 January 1669, Ashby to Benjamin Young (£90), 2 May 1670

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.

1450 Abbot's Fireside

EHS Database

Swing Riots

Les Ames (1905 - 1990)

Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

She came to village with her mother Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra. She lived at Orchard Cottage (now the Five Bells) and attended the private schools in the village square.

Stats

1450 Abbot's Fireside