Graveyard Memorial Inscriptions

Welcome to the Elham Historical Society database website. Feel free to browse and uncover the history of Elham. Our dedicated team of historians has recently finished recording the details on all the memorials in the graveyard. Our chairman Derek Boughton has overseen the operation, correlating the data and checking for errors. The results of their labours can be seen on the burials page.

Elham beat off stiff competition for the title of Kent Village of the year 2011 organised by Action with Communities in Rural Kent.

Censuses for outlying communities in the parish will be rolled out gradually. Check out the stats page for interesting facts and

trivia about the village. We still need your help so please send us any information relating to Elham that may be of interest.

Les Ames hits out

Elham resident Les Ames in action for England against the West Indies in 1939. He was one of the finer wicketkeeper - batsmen and played for Kent CCC.

Abbot's Fireside c 1450

The Abbot's Fireside is one of the older buildings in the village and probably dates back to the mid fifteenth century.

Audrey attends school

Audrey Hepburn (neé Rushton) lived in Orchard Cottage (Five Bells) for five years in her childhood (1935-1940) and attended the local village schools. She took ballet lessons and dreamed of becoming a prima ballerina. I wonder what became of her?

George V Playing Field

Dave Lee opens Elham's brand new playground with a sensory garden and a pretty flower meadow created by the Play for Elham charity. 21st November 2010

Swing Riots of 1830

The machine breaking that led to the riots of August 1830 onwards started in the Elham Parish, writes our historian Derek Boughton, who has made a lifetime's study of the subject.

Elham residents were prominent in the gangs that sought out the new fangled threshing machines and destroyed them. Some of them cost the not inconsiderable sum for the day of £100. Full Story

Riots 1830

The machine breaking that led to the riots of August 1830 onwards started in the Elham Parish, writes our historian Derek Boughton,who has made a lifetime's study of the subject.

Elham residents were prominent in the gangs that sought out the new fangled threshing machines and destroyed them. The most successful machine was the Scot Andrew Meikle, who was also responsible for developments in windmill technology, and his machines which cost the vast sum of about £100 were in production from 1786. They were rapidly taken up in Scotland and the north, though his design was often pirated, and other cheaper machines became available.

Derek Boughton

SUICIDEOF A BRICKLAYER 1898

The East Kent Coroner (R. M. Mercer, Esq.) held an inquest on Friday, at the Rose and Crown Inn, Elham, on the body or James John Richards, bricklayer, aged 49. (Probably only 46) Deceased was found hanging to a tree in Collis Wood, Elham, by some children, who told a policeman, who proceeded to the place and found deceased was dead. —The jury returned a verdict of "Suicide whilst of unsound mind.' Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald - Saturday 22 October 1898

Farmers' Market 2008

The first Elham Farmers’ Market was held in the Triangle. It was opened by the oldest and youngest residents in the village: villagers Mrs Evelyn London, 97, Mr Alec Gasson, 95, and Jack Hobbs, three months old. With an age gap spanning more than 95 years, these residents celebrated the return of a regular market to this historic village, for the first time since about 1830. The future Edward 1 granted a market charter to Elham in 1251 and the market continued to operate until about 1830. Elham in Business conceived the farmers’ market as a way of keeping and generating business for the benefit of the local community. Local residents have been directly involved in resurrecting the market, either through the management committee or by volunteering to help set up and take down the market. Elham Farmers’ Market adheres to the principles of quality local food for local people, available in season and at realistic prices, and with the added environmental benefits of reducing food miles. The most local producers are Gatehouse Farm in North Elham and Elham gardeners who sell their surplus veg, fruit and flowers. The market attracts an average 200 customers (local and passing trade) and there are about 10 stalls selling fruit and veg, bread, eggs, jams and chutneys, cakes, game, meat, cheese, plants, chocolate and occasional crafts. Elham Farmers' Market

EHS Database

Swing Riots of 1830 recounted by Derek Boughton our local expert historian.

Les Ames for England v West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica 1930 or 1935. WK Ivan Barrow watches on.

Audrey Hepburn attended private schools in the village and dreamed of being a ballerina. I wonder what became of her?

What's in the database? Find the latest additions here.

2008 Cricket Club

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Les Ames (1905 - 1990)

Former Elham resident Leslie Ethelbert George Ames CBE; who died suddenly at his home in Canterbury on February 26 1990 - aged 84 - was without a doubt the greatest wicketkeeper-batsman the game has so far produced; and yet - at the time he was playing - it used to be said there were better wicketkeepers than Ames - and that he was in the England team because of his batting. If this was so would Jardine - for example - have preferred him to Duckworth in Australia in 1932-33?

Surely not. When fully fit - Ames was England's first-choice wicketkeeper from 1931 to 1939 - when he virtually gave up the job. For Kent - he was an integral part of their Championship side from 1927 to the first match of 1951 - when a sharp recurrence of back trouble - which had dogged him for so long - brought his career to an end while he was actually at the crease. By this time he had amassed 37248 runs - average 43.51 - made 102 hundreds - including nine double-hundreds - and passed 1000 runs in a season seventeen times - going on to 3000 once and 2000 on five occasions. He had had a direct interest in 1121 dismissals - of which more than 1000 were effected when he was keeping wicket. His total of 418 stumpings is easily a record.

In Test cricket - Ames played 47 matches - scoring 2434 runs with a batting average of 40.56 - and taking 74 catches - and 23 stumpings. Record 8th wicket partnership in all tests of 246 with GO Allen :Made 123 in the pre-lunch session of the 1923 test against South Africa (a record for runs in a session): Scored centuries against every first-class county apart from Kent. Unusually for a wicket-keeper - he also bowled over 200 overs - taking 24 first-class wickets with a bowling average of 33.37.

Ames was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1929. He was a pupil at the Harvey Grammar School in Folkestone and he also played five times for Gillingham FC.

EHS Database

Swing Riots of 1830 recounted by Derek Boughton our local expert historian.

Les Ames for England v West Indies at Kingston, Jamaica 1930 or 1935. WK Ivan Barrow watches on.

Audrey Hepburn attended private schools in the village and dreamed of being a ballerina. I wonder what became of her?

What's in the database? Find the latest additions here.

2008 Cricket Club

EHS Database

Swing Riots

Les Ames (1905 - 1990)

Audrey Hepburn (1929 - 1993)

She came to village with her mother Dutch Baroness Ella van Heemstra. She lived at Orchard Cottage (now the Five Bells) and attended the private schools in the village square.

Stats

2008 Cricket Club

The club gains ECB Clubmark accreditation which is recognition of the excellent work carried out by the club’s coaches and volunteers.