Barham, Kent
| Barham | |
 The Duke of Cumberland pub, Barham |
|
  Barham |
|
| Area | 14.54 km2 (5.61 sq mi) |
|---|---|
| Population | 1,355 (Civil Parish)[1] |
| – density | 93/km2 (240/sq mi) |
| OS grid reference | TR206495 |
| Civil parish | Barham |
| District | Canterbury |
| Shire county | Kent |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | CANTERBURY |
| Postcode district | CT4 |
| Dialling code | 01227 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Canterbury |
Coordinates: 51°12′25″N 1°09′25″E / 51.207°N 1.157°E
Barham /ˈbærəm/ is a village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury district of Kent, England. Barham is centred 7 miles south-east of Canterbury and 7 miles north of Folkestone. It has a range of village amenities as well as two steep, rural/light industrial localities in the south named Derringstone and Breach. Its other locality in the north is larger than the other two combined but much smaller than the village centre, Out Elmstead - which has listed buildings and no notable amenities of its own. A significant minority of the village is occupied by the farmland and gardens of Broome Park which is a listed building in the highest category, Grade I.
The name Barham was spelt Bioraham in 799, from Biora (derived from Beora, a Saxon chief) and Ham ("settlement" or "homestead").[2]
The Nailbourne, a tributary of the Little Stour rises in Lyminge and flows intermittently in line with the seasons and rainfall through the centre of the village. Just outside Barham stood the Black Mill, a windmill which was accidentally burnt down in 1970. Barham Downs are wooded hills north-west of the village centre. A vineyard and pottery is at Breach. Across the through-road in Breach is an industrial estate, named the Barham Industrial Estate.
Barham Downs Golf Club (now defunct) was founded in 1890. The club disappeared following WW1.[3]
The parish church of St. John the Baptist sits on the eastern hillside, with an impressive green copper spire. Built in the 14th century, it has been partially remodelled inside to make it more appropriate for modern worship.
Geography
The land of the village is a mostly rural and wooded right-angled triangle of land (irregular in shape) commencing with the A2 road between Canterbury and Dover on its north-east border, with its housing neatly grouped among wooded hills and pasture forming the rest of the village. Elevations range between 42m in the north to 130m in the south-west.
Broome Park
Broome Park occupies about a sixth of the land of the village and is a Grade II listed Park and Garden in the initial category of the national grading system.
Out Elmstead
Out Elmstead has eight listed buildings and it the most residential of the three outliers in terms of the anciently named hamlets. A nursery is here and ford to access the place from the village centre, rather from the northbound side of the A2.
Governance
An electoral ward in the name of Barham Downs exists. This ward stretches north to Adisham with a total population taken at the 2011 Census of 2,797.[4]
Famous inhabitants
- David Starkey (1945–), historian
- Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, Field Marshal, diplomat, and statesman, lived the last few years of his life at Broome Park. His name appears on the war memorial in the porch of the parish church.
- Reginald Fitz Urse – Knight to Henry II of England and one of four assassins of Thomas Becket.
References
- ↑ Key Statistics; Quick Statistics: Population Density United Kingdom Census 2011 Office for National Statistics Retrieved 21 November 2013
- ↑ Barham (community website)
- ↑ “Barham Downs Golf Club”, “Golf’s Missing Links”.
- ↑ "Barham Downs ward population 2011". Retrieved 1 October 2015.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barham, Kent. |
Further reading
- Learning to Look at Paintings by Mary Acton (Psychology Press, 1997) ISBN 9780415148900 discusses the demographics of Barham in the early 19th century
