Place:Barham, Kent, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Barham is a village and civil parish in the City of Canterbury District of Kent, England. Barham is centred 7 miles southeast of central Canterbury and 7 miles north of Folkestone. It has a range of village amenities as well as two steep, rural localities in the south named Derringstone and Breach. A third locality in the north is Out Elmstead. A significant minority of Barham village is occupied by the farmland and gardens of Broome Park which is a Grade I listed building. The parish had a population of 1,355 in the UK census of 2011.

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 northwest of the village centre. A vineyard and pottery is at Breach.

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.

Barham was originally an ancient parish in the Kinghamford Hundred. Between 1894 and 1974 it was part of the Bridge Rural District. In 1934the Bridge Rural District was abolished and its parishes became part of the larger Blean Bridge Rural District until 1974.

Research Tips

• Kent County Council Archive, Local Studies and Museums Service. James Whatman Way, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LQ. This incorporates the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone and the East Kent Archives Centre near Dover.
• Canterbury Cathedral Archives see the Archives web pages on the Canterbury Catherdral site.
• For information on the area around the Medway Towns, have a look at Medway Council's CityArk site.
• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales - Revised: Kent illustrates the parish boundaries of Kent when rural districts were still in existence and before Greater London came into being. The map publication year is 1931. An earlier map of 1900 may also be useful. The maps blow up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use.
• Census records for Kent are available on FamilySearch, Ancestry and FindMyPast. The first site is free; the other two are pay sites but have access to microfilmed images. Steve Archer produced a very useful round-up of the available sources, but this information may not be up to date.
• Registration Districts in Kent for the period 1837 to the present. By drilling down through the links you can follow any parish through the registration districts to which it was attached.
• England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911 The full database from Kent Archives Office, Maidstone, has been available online from FamilySearch since June 2016.
• Kent had five family history societies (now only four):

• Kent FHS (serves the whole county)
• Folkestone & District FHS (serves the southeast corner)
• North West Kent FHS (serves the western area of present-day Kent)
• Tunbridge Wells FHS (ceased operation 31 Dec 2016; see North West Kent)
• Woolwich & District FHS (serves eastern sections of Greater London which were in Kent until 1966)

• Volume 2 of the Victoria County History of Kent (published 1926) is available online through the auspices of British History Online. It includes accounts of the early history of Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals, and of several sites now within the conurbation of London.
• Volume 3 of the Victoria County History of Kent (published 1932) This includes the text of, and the index to, the Kent Domesday survey. It has been provided by the Kent Archaeological Society.
• In place of the other volumes of the Victoria County History, British History Online has transcriptions of the numerous volumes of The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted (originally published 1797)
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, is particularly helpful in locating parishes in large ancient towns and cities like Canterbury.
• Kent Probate Records Numerous links provided by Maureen Rawson
• GENUKI lists other possible sources, however, it does not serve Kent so well as it does some other counties.