Higham, Kent

Historical Description

Higham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village-stands near the Thames and Medway Canal, 1½ mile from' the Thames and 3 miles NNW of Rochester, was known at Domesday as Heckham, and has a station on the S.E.R., 28 miles from London, and a post and telegraph office under Rochester; money order office, Mid Higham. The parish includes also Lillechurch, Oakley, Mockbeggar, and Gads Hill. Acreage, 3099; population, 1457. A Benedictine nunnery was founded at Lillechurch by King Stephen; had for its first abbess King Stephen's daughter Mary; was soon removed to JBigham village; was given at the dissolution to St John's College, Cambridge; and is now represented by some fragments of masonry there, in a house called the Abbey. An ancient causeway, probably of Roman origin, leads from the village across the marshes to the Thames, at a point where formerly there was a ferry, to a road direct toward Colchester. An ancient barrow is about 1½ mile from the railway station. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester; net value, , £200 with residence. Patron, St John's College, Cambridge. The parish church is ancient with slight Norman traces, has been restored, and contains a font, a piscina, and a large ancient altar-tomb. Roman bricks are in its masonry, and many Roman urns, pieces of pottery, and other relics were found in the near neighbourhood, in what is supposed to have been a potter's field. The church of St John the Evangelist was built in 1861 at a cost of, £3600, is in the Early Decorated English style, and consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with W porch and tower and spire. Gads Hill Place, a residence in the neighbourhood, was formerly occupied by -Charles Dickens, the distinguished novelist, who died there on 9 June, 1870.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

Findmypast have the following online for Higham with Merston: baptisms 1653-1914, marriages 1654-1935, burials 1653-1960

Findmypast have the following online for Higham, St John: baptisms 1862-1877,

Findmypast have the following online for Higham, St Mary: baptisms 1653-1877, marriages 1654-1851, burials 1653-1877

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Higham from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Higham (St. Mary))

Maps

Online maps of Higham 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.