Launched 09/04/2011
Latest update
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.
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.
The Abbot's Fireside is one of the older buildings in the village and probably dates back to the mid fifteenth century.
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?
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
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
Caister's Tavern ca.1845-1854. Caleb Caister came from Elham in England to Oxford County in 1833. In 1836 he settled on this site, cleared farmland and built a one storey log dwelling. This dwelling was his family home but also served as an inn and tavern. Until 1848, when what is now Tavistock was established, Caister's home was the only public accommodation in north-central Oxford County for pioneers moving along the Huron Road and thence southerly into the Zorra settlement. By the 1840's Caister held an official municipal licence and a survey map of the time shows that his log dwelling was known in this locality as Caister's Tavern. Location: East side of HWY 59 south of the curve south from Tavistock (East Zorra-Tavistock) 597112 Oxford 59 RD Tavistock, ON Canada plaques
Sarah Court of The Street Elham - was born on a farm at Acrise on 24 Feb 1809 - celebrated her 100th birthday. Her farmer parents both attained the age of nearly 90. She was a farmer’s maid for the PAPILLON family and still doing nursing at the age of 80 but had never been on a train. An uncle - a wine merchant who lived in Dover - also lived to a good age. A son and a daughter were alive when she was 100. Sarah Court
28th April: An earthquake registering 4.3 on the Richter scale struck south east Kent at 08:18:12 (local time), at a shallow depth of 5.3 km. The worst affected area was the town of Folkestone though the towns of Deal, Dover and Ashford were also affected. The tremors could be felt across much of Kent and south east England including as far as East Sussex, Essex and Suffolk, as well as on the other side of the English Channel at Calais and Brussels. The earthquake's shallow depth and proximity to Folkestone resulted in structural damage in the town, and one woman suffered a minor head and neck injury. Following the earthquake, a total 474 properties were reported as damaged with 73 properties too badly damaged for people to return to, 94 seriously damaged, and 307 suffering from minor structural damage. Harvey Grammar School situated in Cheriton Road, Folkestone was closed on 30 April due to "significant structural damage". Several thousand homes were left without power for several hours and there were reports of a "smell of gas" in Folkestone. The Port of Dover, the channel tunnel and travel links were unaffected although authorities asked people heading towards Dover to use the A2. EDF Energy had restored electricity supplies that had been cut by the earthquake by the same afternoon. The Salvation Army Church in Folkestone provided refuge for approximately 100 people on 28 April whose homes had been damaged by the earthquake. Wikipedia
The earthquake's shallow depth and proximity to Folkestone resulted in structural damage in the town, and one woman suffered a minor head and neck injury. Following the earthquake, a total 474 properties were reported as damaged with 73 properties too badly damaged for people to return to, 94 seriously damaged, and 307 suffering from minor structural damage. Harvey Grammar School situated in Cheriton Road, Folkestone was closed on 30 April due to "significant structural damage".
Several thousand homes were left without power for several hours and there were reports of a "smell of gas" in Folkestone. The Port of Dover, the channel tunnel and travel links were unaffected although authorities asked people heading towards Dover to use the A2. EDF Energy had restored electricity supplies that had been cut by the earthquake by the same afternoon. The Salvation Army Church in Folkestone provided refuge for approximately 100 people on 28 April whose homes had been damaged by the earthquake.