Thornham or Thurnham, Kent

Historical Description

Thornham or Thurnham, a parish, with a village, in Kent, 3½ miles ENE of Maidstone, and has a station in the parish at Bearsted on the L.C. & D.R. Post town, Maidstone. Acreage, 3400; population of the civil parish, 676; of the ecclesiastical, 656. There is a parish council consisting of seven members. The manor, with Thornham Court, belongs to the baronet family of Hampson. Thornham or Godard's Castle crowned a chalk hill, and is of utterly uncertain origin and now a ruin. Roman urns and other Roman remains have been found in the castle's vicinity. At Binbury, the N end of the parish, on the Chalk Hill, are the remains of a Roman station, the earthworks being well preserved. The living is a vicarage, united with Aldington, in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £135 with residence. The church is Perpendicular English, and has been restored. Gower the poet resided at Aldington manor.

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.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Thornham or Thurnham from the following:

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

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.