Otham, Kent

Historical Description

Otham, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands near the river Len, 2 miles from Bearsted station on the L.C. & D.R., and 2½ ESE of Maidstone. It has a post and money order office under Maidstone; telegraph office, Bearsted. Acreage of parish, 955; population, 361. There is a parish council of five members and a chairman. The manor and much of the land belong to the Earl of Romney. Hops and fruit are largely grown. The river Len bounds the parish on the N. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £370 with residence. Patron, Magdalen College, Oxford. The church includes traces of Early English and possibly Norman work; consists of nave, N aisle, and chancel, with tower and small spire; has been well restored; and contains the mural monuments of Lewen Ruffkin and wife, and tablets in memory of the families of Fludd, Hendley, and Home. Bishop Home was a native, and his father was rector.

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 Otham from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Otham 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.