Otford

Otford, a village and a parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent.  The village stands on the river Darent, adjacent to the Sevenoaks railway, midway between Shoreham and Bradbourn rail stations, and 3 miles North of Sevenoaks;  was known to the Saxons as Ottanford;  and has a post office under Sevenoaks.  The parish contains also the village of Dunton Green and comprises 2,852 acres.  Real property in 1860, £5,147;  of which £30 are in quarries.  Population in 1861, 804.  Houses, 168.  The property is much subdivided.

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 the Dowager Lady 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 deathplace, 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 feet in diameter;  was regbuilts, in a style of treat 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 is the seat of Miss C. C. Selby;  Broughton House of S. Wreford, Esq.;  and Twitton Vale, of R. Richard, Esq..

Hops are grown, bricks are made, and limestone is calcined.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £200 with a habitable glebe house.  Patrons, The Ecclesiastical Commissioners.  The church was destroyed by fire about 1637;  was rebuilt in a tasteless manner, with wooden pillars dividing the nave from the aisles;  has a fine east window, inserted at the expense of Lord Willoughby de Broke;  underwent general restoration in 1863;  contains a monument to C. Polhill, Esq., formed of seven different kinds of marble, and some other handsome monuments;  and was anciently noted for a shrine of St. Bartholomew, of curious reputation.  There are a Wesleyan chapel, national schools, and charities £24.

Dunton Green, a village with a railway station, in Otford parish, Kent;  1-1/2 mile north of Sevenoaks.

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

Otford 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 Otford: vol. , pp.

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