Offham, Kent

Historical Description

Offham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands at the N skirt of Mereworth Woods, 2½ miles from Mailing station on the L.C. & D.R., and 8 WNW of Maidstone. It has a post office under Maidstone; money order and telegraph office, West Mailing. Acreage of parish, 711; population, 397. There is a parish council consisting of five members. Offham Green long had an ancient quintain, which the lord of the manor is obliged to keep in repair. The manor and much of the land belong to Lord Hothfield. Upwards of 200 acres are under hops. There is a Danish camp. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £300 with residence. Patron, the Lord Chancellor. The church is partly Norman, chiefly Early English, all in good condition, and has a tower. Jack Straw was a native.

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.

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 Offham from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Offham 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.