| Otford |
 Otford in 1905 |
| Otford parish is about nine miles in circumference, and contains about two thousand four hundred acres of land, of which about seventy are woodland. It lies for the greatest part of it in a low damp situation, which makes it far from being pleasant, and gives it a lonely and gloomy appearance, and in all probability it would have been but little known had it not been for the residence of the archbishops at it for such a length of time. In the valley much of it is meadow land, and though the rivulets and springs throughout it render it very moist and marshy, yet it is here rather fertile. Towards Sevenoke the soil becomes sandy, and on the eastern and western hills it is entirely chalk mixed with flint stones, and is in general very barren. The river Darent runs through it northward, and it is otherwise watered by two other streams which join the river here. Hence the chalk hills rise on each side towards the east and west. The high road from Dartford to Sevenoke goes through the village of Otford, which stands at the foot of the chalk hills in the valley, not far from the eastern banks of the Darent, across which another road branches off from the village towards Chevening. At the entrance of the village from Eynsford, flood till lately, an ancient seat, seemingly of the time of Queen Elizabeth, which carried with it, the appearance of its former opulence. extract from Hasted's History of Kent published in 1797 |
| Parish & other records | Before 1500 |
1500 to 1550 |
1550 to 1600 |
1600 to 1650 |
1650 to 1700 |
1700 to 1725 |
1725 to 1750 |
1750 to 1775 |
1775 to 1800 |
1800 to 1825 |
1825 to 1850 |
1850 to 1875 |
1875 to 1900 |
1900 to 1925 |
1925 to 1950 |
1950 to 1975 |
1975 to 2000 |
After 2000 |
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| 628 | Births | 5 | 2 | 4 | 12 | 60 | 130 | 256 | 159 | |||||||||||
| 27 | Christenings | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 12 | ||||||||||||||
| 2 | Marriages | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Deaths | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 4 | Burials | 1 | 2 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||
| Books and other documents | |
| Published | Title, author and references |
| 1797 | The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent - Volume III by Edward Hasted ⇒ p. 19 |
| 1797 | The Tunbridge Wells Guide by J. Sprange ⇒ p. 205 |
| 1826 | A Perambulation of Kent conteining the Description, Hystorie and Customes of that Shire, written in the Year 1570 by William Lambarde ⇒ p. 459 |
| 1839 | Directory of Kent, Surrey & Sussex ⇒ entry |
| 1840 | New Guide for Tunbridge Wells by John Colbran and edited by James Phippen ⇒ p. 376 |
| 1871 | A History of The Weald of Kent with an outline of the Early History of the County, Volume I. by Robert Furley, F.S.A. ⇒ p. 63; p. 76; p. 135; p. 275; p. 338 |
| 1874 | A History of The Weald of Kent with an outline of the History of the County to the present time, Volume II by Robert Furley, F.S.A. ⇒ p. 17; p. 108; p. 142; p. 435 |
| 1882 | Kelly's Directory of Kent by E. R. Kelly, M.A., F.S.S. ⇒ entry |
| 1909 | English Homes and Villages (Kent & Sussex) also published as Tunbridge Wells and its Neighbourhood by Lady Hope ⇒ p. 164 |
| 1914 | Highways and Byways in Kent by Walter Jerrold with Illustrations by Hugh Thomson ⇒ p. 356 |
| Pictures | |||||||
 Otford Castle - 1900 |  Otford Castle - 1905 |  Otford - 1905 |  Otford Village - 1911 | ||||
| Places and properties in Otford - a directory of homes, farms, churches, schools, inns, and other places of interest that existed prior to 1900 has been compiled from Post Office directories, Kelly's directories, Trade directories, Census data, Ordnance survey maps and books of the period |
The Weald is at Database version 14.05 which has ongoing updates to the 395,000 people; 9,000 places; 613 maps; 3,308 pictures, engravings and photographs; and 248 books loaded in the previous version
