Barham

Barham is in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Bridge.  The church is named for St. John the Baptist with registers commencing 1558.

Barham is a village, a parish, downs, and a sub-district in the district of Bridge, Kent.  The village stands in a valley, under the downs, about 3-1/2 miles southwest of Adisham station on the London, Chatham and Dover railway, and 6 miles southeast of Canterbury;  and has a post office under Canterbury and a money order office and a savings bank.  The parish comprises 4,600 acres.  Real property, £6,058.  Population, 1,090.  Houses, 232.  The subsoil is chiefly chalk.

The manor, Barham Court, is on the river Medway near East Farleigh rail station, 4-1/2 miles southwest of Maidstone.  It belonged early to the see of Canterbury;  and was held by Reginald Fitzurse, one of Thomas à Becket's murderers, and afterwards by Fitzurse's descendants, the de Berhams, till the time of James I;  passed to successively the Botilers, the Bouveries, and Sir Charles Middleton who was created Lord Barham;  descended to Lord Barham's grandson, the present Earl of Gainsborough;  and is now the property and seat of the Right Honourable T. Pemberton Leigh.  The mansion on the property is modern.  Other principal residences are Broome Park, the seat of Sir Henry Chudleigh Oxenden, Bart., and the property belonging to George C. Dering, Esq.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £800 with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury.  The church is early decorated English;  and has a lofty spire and some neat monuments.

Digges, the mathematician, had connexion with the parish; and Admiral Sir T. Thomson was a native.

Barham downs extend from southeast to northwest, along the line of Watling Street;  and are about 3 miles long.  Numerous barrows are on them, of times from early British to later Saxon, showing them to have been scenes of many ancient public events.  King John, with his army of 60,000 men, encamped on them, in 1213, prior to the resigning of his crown.  Simon de Montford assembled his troops on them, in the time of Henry III, to oppose the landing of Queen Eleanor.  Queen Henrietta Maria, after her landing at Dover in 1625, was met on them by the flower of the English nobility.  Several regiments lay posted on them, in the time of Napoleon Bonaparte, to oppose his threatened invasion from Boulogne.  Traces of the camp of these regiments, and also a small square ancient camp, still exist.  The Canterbury races, now of little note, are held on the downs;  and the election of members for East Kent takes place on them.

The sub-district comprises thirteen parishes.  Acres 22,871.  Population 6,296.  Houses 1,257. ¹

The Barham village website has additional information.

¹ John Marius Wilson, comp.  The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales. (London, England: A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

Barham Bibliography

-- various. 'Archaeologia Cantiana'. Publisher: Kent, England: Kent Archaeological Society, various dates.  [Note:  The following volumes can be found on archive.org:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1876), 11, 12, 13 (1880), 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, vol. 1907 supplement.]

• General references to Barham: vol. , pp.
• Currently in revision

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public Record Office--Edward II, Vol. 1. 1307-1313'Each volume has own index. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Inquisitions and assessments relating to feudal aids : with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431', Vol. 3. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Exchequer. 'The book of fees commonly called testa de nevill, pt. 3'. The Book of fees contains information about the holdings of feudal tenants. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hall, Hubert, 1857-1944. 'The Red book of the Exchequer - Liber rubeus de Scaccario, Vol. 3'. The Red book of the Exchequer was a register intended to preserve important documents comprising charters, statutes of the realm, public acts (Placita), private deeds and ordinances, correspondence. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Glencross, Reginald Morshead. 'Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Vol. 1. 1559-1571'. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hasted, Edward. 'The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent; Containing the antient and present state of it, civil and ecclesiastical; collected from public records, and other authorities: illustrated with maps, views, antiquities, etc. The second edition, improved, corrected, and continued to the present time'. 12 volumes. Publisher: Canterbury: Printed by W. Bristow, 1797-1801. URL: British History Online

Hussey, Arthur. 'Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, mentioned in Domesday book, and those of more recent date'. Publisher: London J.R. Smith,(1852).

Letters, Dr. Samantha. 'Kent', Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (2005).  URL: British History Online.

Page, William, 1861-1934, ed.. 'The Victoria history of the county of Kent'. Publisher: London: Constable (1908).  URL: British History Online

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I, File 39', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 2: Edward I. Published:(1906), pp. 315-323.  URL: British History Online.

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry III, File 45', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III. Published:(1904), pp. 296-302.  URL: British History Online.

Location of Records

The following list of records is not intended to be exhaustive.  There are many records that are awaiting discovery in archive offices throughout Kent and England.  This list is intended only to set out those records that are available via at least two relatively easy-to-access avenues.  If you have used or discover a record that would be of benefit to other researchers, that is not on this list, please send me an email with the details of the archive - name, address and archival call number.

Census | Church of England | Non-Conformist | Parish chest | Workhouse and Poor Law | Land | Assizes and Sessions | School

Census

Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
(poor laws, jail terms, oaths, and other municipal and public records)

School Records