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Elham beat off stiff competition for the title of Kent Village of the year 2011 organised by Action with Communities in Rural Kent.
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Censuses for outlying communities in the parish will be rolled out gradually. Check out the stats page for interesting facts and
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trivia about the village. We still need your help so please send us any information relating to Elham that may be of interest.
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Les Ames hits out
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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.
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Abbot's Fireside c 1450
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The Abbot's Fireside is one of the older buildings in the village and probably dates back to the mid fifteenth century.
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Audrey attends school
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Audrey Hepburn (left) 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?
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George V Playing Field
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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
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Swing Riots of 1830
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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
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Petty Sessions
1866
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Thomas Bourne was charged with assaulting Mr. Thomas Holland, at Elham, on the 29th June last. Both parties live at Elham, the latter being a schoolmaster. The complainant said that on Friday evening, the 29th of June, he was standing looking over his garden wall, and the defendant and some other person, were talking together. Defendant spoke loud enough for him to hear, disparingly of the way complainant treated his boarders. Defendant usd very abusive language to complainant and threatened to strike his head off. He left his garden and went to a policeman. On his way he met defendant, who lifted his hand to strike him, but he did not do so. Defendant was the worse for liquor, but not drunk. The Bench fined defendant 2s. 6d. And 4s. 6d. costs, in default seven days' imprisonment.
Kentish Gazette - Tuesday 31 July 1866
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Fire at the Manor
1947
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The old manor house at Elham was extensively damaged by fire at about 4 o'clock on Friday morning. Mrs. Parkinson, wife of Major C. N. Parkinson, a lecturer at Liverpool University, her two children, a maid and her child, and a nurse, were able to leave in time.
Dover Express - Friday 04 April 1947
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Parkinson's Law
1955
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Elham resident Cyril Northcote Parkinson published his most famous work Parkinson's Law, a book that expanded upon a humorous article that he had first published in the Economist magazine in November 1955, satirizing government bureaucracies. The 100-page book, first published in the United States and then in Britain, was illustrated by Osbert Lancaster and became an instant best seller. This collection of short studies explained the inevitability of bureaucratic expansion, arguing that 'work expands to fill the time available for its completion'. Typical of his satire and cynical humour, the book included a discourse on Parkinson's Law of Triviality (debates about expenses for a nuclear plant, a bicycle shed, and refreshments), a note on why driving on the left side of the road (see road transport) is natural, and suggested that the Royal Navy would eventually have more admirals than ships. After serving as visiting professor at Harvard University in 1958, and the University of Illinois and the University of California, Berkeley in 1959–60, he resigned his post in Singapore at the University of Malaya to become an independent writer and celebrity. To avoid high taxation in Britain, he moved to the Channel Islands and settled at St Martin's, Guernsey, where he purchased Les Caches Hall and later restored Annesville Manor. His writings from this period included a series of historical novels, featuring a fictional naval officer from Guernsey, Richard Delancey, during the Napoleonic era
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