Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for OTFORD

OTFORD, a village and a parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent. The village stands on the river Darent, adjacent to the Sevenoaks railway, midway between Shoreham and Bradbourn r. stations, and 3 miles N of Sevenoaks; was known to the Saxons as Ottanford; and has a post-office under Sevenoaks. The parish contains also the village of Dunton-Green, and comprises 2, 852 acres. Real property, £5, 147; of which £30 are in quarries. Pop., 804. Houses, 168. The property is much subdivided. The manor was given to the see of Canterbury, in 791, by King Offa of Mercia; was resigned to the Crown by Archbishop Cranmer; and belongs now to the Dowager Lady Amherst. A palace seems to have been built hereby the Archbishops of Canterbury, soon after their obtaining the manor; stood in so pleasant a situation, at the foot of the chalk-hills, with adjoining large parks and woods, as to have always been one of the most highlyrelished of the archiepiscopal residences; was the death-place, in 1313, of Archbishop Winchelsea; gave entertainment to Edward I., and repeatedly to Henry VIII.; was specially liked by Thomas a Becket, who is said to have brought a water-supply to it, and to have ordinarilybathed in a walled-well still extant, 10 feet deep and 15feet in diameter; was rebuilt, in a style of great magnificence, at a cost of £33,000, by Archbishop Warham; and is now represented by only a roofless tower and thecloistered side of the outer court. Otford House is the seat of MissC. Selby; Broughton House, of S. Wreford, Esq.; and Twitton Vale, of R. Richards, Esq. Hops are grown, bricks are made, and limestone is calcined. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury Value, £200.* Patrons, The Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The church was destroyed by fire about 1637; was rebuilt in a tasteless manner, with wooden pillars dividing the nave from the aisles; has a fine Ewindow, inserted at the expense of Lord Willoughby de Broke; underwent general restoration in 1863; contains a monument toPolhill, Esq., formed of seven different kinds of marble, and some other handsome monuments; and was anciently noted for a shrine of St. Bartholomew, of curious reputation. There are a Wesleyan chapel, national schools, and charities £24.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Otford CP/Ch       Sevenoaks RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place names: OTFORD     |     OTTANFORD
Place: Otford

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