Chartham, Kent
Historical Description
Chartham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the river Stour and S.E.R., 66 miles from London, and 3¼ SW of Canterbury, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. It was known at Domesday as Certeham; it occupies a low site round a green, and it contains a house built by Dr Delangle, a French refugee who became rector here, and marked by a bust of Charles II. The parish includes Horton, the hamlets of Chartham-Hatch and Shalmsford Street. Acreage, 4569; population, 2641. The manor was given in 1871 to Christ Church, Canterbury, belongs now to the Chapter there, and is still called the Deanery. Chartham Downs, above the village, have remains of a number of tumuli, called Danes' Banks, and are marked by lines of ancient entrenchments. One of the earliest discoveries of great fossil bones, giving rise to the modern science of palaeontology, was made in 1668 at Chartham, in the sinking of a well. The East Kent Lunatic Asylum was erected in 1875 on Chartham Downs, and will hold 900 patients. A large paper mill is at the back of the village. The living is a rectory, with the chapelry of Horton annexed, in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £501 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is cruciform, variously Early and Decorated English, has rare and very beautiful tracery in the windows, and an embattled tower at the west end, and contains brasses, monumental slabs, a monument of Dr Delangle, and an elaborate monument by Eysbrack of Sir William Young. There are Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist chapels.
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
| Ancient County | Kent | |
| Ecclesiastical parish | Chartham St. Mary | |
| Hundred | Felborough | |
| Lathe | Shepway | |
| Poor Law union | Bridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The parish register dates from the year 1558.
Findmypast have the following online for Chartham, St Mary: baptisms 1558-1912, marriages 1559-1928, burials 1558-1899
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a long and narrow cruciform building of flint stone and brick, chiefly in the Early Decorated style and consists of chancel, nave, transepts, north and south porches, with a battlemented western tower of Perpendicular date containing 6 bells; but there are indications of an earlier tower once existing in the centre: the chancel windows are all very elegant and retain much of the original stained glass and this part of the church is also rich in sepulchral remains, principally brasses; these include: 1, a fine brass on a grey slab of a knight, cross-legged and clad in mail, with a surcoat and shield emblazoned with the arms of Septvans and a Lombardic inscription, now imperfect, to Sir Robert de Septvans, 1306; this brass is remarkable as being one of the earliest known examples and has been engraved in Boutell's "Monumental Brasses;" 2, a very small brass of a priest, representing Robert London, a former rector, 1416, also engraved in the same work; 3, brass of Robert Sheffeld, a former rector, in surplice and almuce, 1508; 4, brass of Robert Arthur, a former rector, a large figure, in cope, 1454; 5, small figure of a lady, with an invocatory inscription, to Jane Dowther, of Lewys Clefforht, 1530: in the north wall of the chancel is a segmental arch, enclosing a marble tomb, the sides panelled with trefoiled arches: the font dates only from 1720: there are 300 sittings.
Methodist
Methodist Chapel
Wesleyan Chapel
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Chartham from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chartham (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Chartham are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.