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
The first wedding solemnised in Ashford parish church this year was that between Corporal Edward Nicholas Wakefield, Royal Engineers, third son of the late Mr. Edmond Wakefield, blacksmith, Elham, and Miss Maggie Rate Mortimer, daughter of Mr. W. Mortimer, of Ashford, and late of the Royal Engineers. The marriage was performed by the Rev. E. W. Winstanley." The bride was attired in khaki, and the bridegroom in scarlet, while the bride's sister wore a scarlet costume, and the best man, the brother of the bridegroom, in the khaki uniform of the Imperial Yeomanry. Corporal Wakefield has lately returned from South Africa, where he went through the Natal campaign with General Buller: Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald - Saturday 11 January 1902
Sp. at the Cock when the Cess was Sinned 00-02-06 Sp. at the Cock at the Crownation of King George the Second 00-02-06 Pd. For a Lowanes at the Cock for the workmen at work a bought the Church 00-08-06 Elham Churchwardens’ Accounts
Some time before 1891 he left Elham and joined the British army, and it seems that he signed on for 14 years. His military service took him overseas to India, for in 1901 he reappeared in Elham with his wife Louisa, and three children. Louisa and his son Alfred were both born in Madras, India. His fourth child was born in Elham in April 1901 and on her baptismal record his occupation was recorded as 'retired policeman' so he may have been in the military or Indian police. Later that year he re joined his regiment and fought in the South African War until 1902. Alfred's travels were not over however. In 1914 he travelled to Australia, where he settled in Brighton, a suburb of Adelaide, South Australia. He got a job as an attendant at Minda Home, a progressive establishment for children and young adults with learning disabilities. It was in Brighton that he joined up when war was declared in August 1914. Due to his previous experience in the British army, he was given the rank of Corporal in the 3rd Brigade Ammunition Column. It was whilst serving with the 3rd Brigade that he was killed at Gaba Tepe, Gallipoli. Family Historian site