Otford, Kent

Historical Description

Otford, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the river Darent, with a station on the L.C. & D.R., 24 miles from London, and 3 N of Sevenoaks. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sevenoaks. Acreage of the civil parish, 2806; population, 1480; of the ecclesiastical, 668. There is a parish council consisting of nine members. The manor was given to the see of Canterbury in 791 by King Offa of Mercia, was resigned to the Crown by Archbishop Cranmer, and belongs now to Earl Amherst A palace seems to have been built here by the Archbishops of Canterbury soon after their obtaining the manor; stood in so pleasant a situation, at the foot of the chalk-hills, with adjoining large parks and woods, as to have always been one of the most highly relished of the archiepiscopal residences; was the death-place, in 1313, of Archbishop Winchelsea; gave entertainment to Edward I., and repeatedly to Henry VIII.; was specially liked by Thomas a Becket, who is said to have brought a water-supply to it, and to have ordinarily bathed in a walled well still extant, 10 feet deep and 15 in diameter; was rebuilt, in a style of great magnificence, at a cost of £33,000, by Archbishop Warham; and is now represented by only a roofless tower and the cloistered side of the outer court. Otford House, Otford Castle, and Twitton Vale are chief residences. Hops are grown, bricks are made, and limestone is calcined. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £320 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Westminster. The church is said to have been partially destroyed by fire about 1637, was rebuilt soon afterwards, and underwent general restoration in 1863. It contains several fine stained glass memorial windows, a monument to Mr C. Polhill, formed of seven different kinds of marble, and some other handsome monuments, and was anciently noted for a shrine of St Bartholomew. There is a Wesleyan chapel.

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 Otford from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Otford 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.