Ightham ( ) is a parish and village in Kent, England, located approximately four miles east of Sevenoaks and six miles north of Tonbridge. The parish includes the hamlet of Ivy Hatch.

Ightham is famous for the nearby medieval manor of Ightham Mote (National Trust), although the village itself is of greater antiquity.

Place names

The name Ightham derived from the name of Ehta (a Jutish personal name) and ham ('homestead'). Many place names in the parish are of Anglo-Saxon or Jutish origin. Places were named as these settlers found them. Oldbury had clearly been fortified, so the Jutes called it Eald-byrig from the Anglo-Saxon eald (old) and byrig (fortified place). possibly to protect against Belgic invaders. may reflect an older church as it may be a copy of an earlier Saxon list. A war memorial was erected opposite the George and Dragon and unveiled on 5 December 1920 by Major General Sir William Furse. The Bishop of Rochester unveiled a tablet in their honour in February 1921 in St Peter's Church. and Biggin Hill airfields, local people would have had a good view of the Battle of Britain. For example, in September 1940, the Button factory on Church lane was evacuated due to dogfighting. During the Blitz in 1940–41, Ightham was directly under a route of German bombers on their way to attack London. Ightham was hit

In September 1940, pilot Noel Stansfeld's Hawker Hurricane crashed at Ightham Place after combat with German Messerschmitt Bf 109s over Edenbridge. In the same confrontation, FO Malcolm Ravenhill was shot down, and he died after his Hurricane crashed on Church Road.

Although bombs were dropped in the village, the school continued its usual pattern, some of the children were evacuated to the West Country in 1941 but they soon returned. June 1944 attacks by V-1 flying bombs prompted the evacuation of Ightham children, as well as London evacuees in Ightham and a number of mothers, to Devon and to Chard in Somerset.

Other

Ightham was famous for growing Kentish cob nuts. These seem to have been cultivated first by James Usherwood, who lived at Cob Tree Cottage.

[[File:Sir Thomas Cawne.jpg|thumb|This life-size memorial of Sir Thomas Cawne of Ightham Mote dates to about 1374 and is the oldest of the three main memorials in the church.

At the 2001 UK census, the Ightham electoral ward had a population of 1,940. The ethnicity was 99.1% White, 0% Mixed Race, 0.6% Asian, 0.3% Black and 0% Other. The place of birth of residents was 91.9% United Kingdom, 0.5% Republic of Ireland, 2% other Western European countries, and 5.6% elsewhere. Religion was recorded as 82.4% Christian, 0.2% Buddhist, 0% Hindu, 0% Sikh, 0.5% Jewish, and 0.2% Muslim. 11.6% were recorded as having no religion, 0.4% had an alternative religion and 4.7% did not state their religion.

The economic activity of residents aged 16–74 was 38.2% in full-time employment, 11.6% in part-time employment, 14.7% self-employed, 1.9% unemployed, 1.9% students with jobs, 3.5% students without jobs, 13.9% retired, 11.2% looking after home or family, 1.1% permanently sick or disabled and 1.9% economically inactive for other reasons. The industry of employment of residents was 12.3% retail, 9.4% manufacturing, 7.2% construction, 18.3% real estate, 8.2% health and social work, 8.3% education, 4.3% transport and communications, 3.2% public administration, 4.3% hotels and restaurants, 17.9% finance, 1.3% agriculture and 5.3% other. Compared with national figures, the ward had a relatively high proportion of workers in finance and real estate. There were a relatively low proportion in manufacturing, public administration, transport and communications. Of the ward's residents aged 16–74, 35.7% had a higher education qualification or the equivalent, compared with 19.9% nationwide.

  • Thomas Riversdale Colyer-Fergusson VC (18 February 1896 – 31 July 1917), recipient of the Victoria Cross, which is displayed in the chapel at Ightham Mote.
  • Lord Eversley (when Mr. George John Shaw-Lefevre), and his wife, Constance, lived at Oldbury Place in Ightham during the time he was Postmaster General.
  • Roger K. Furse - (1903–1972), costume designer
  • Len Goodman - (1944–2023), TV presenter
  • Benjamin Harrison (1837–1921), a grocer who won international recognition as a pioneer in the realm of archaeology. He contended that flints he found in the pre-glacial drift on the North Downs near Ash were artefacts, thus vastly antedating the antiquity of man.
  • William Lambarde, author of the first English county history, A Perambulation of Kent, married his first wife, Jane, in 1570 at Ightham Church on her 17th birthday. They then lived at the family home of the Manor of St Clere. Jane died on 21 September 1573, but William continued to live at the house for another 10 years.
  • Anna Lee (1913–2004), British actress.
  • William Sutton (1830–1888), recipient of the Victoria Cross
  • William Tomkin (1860–1940), British watercolour artist, draughtsman and Assistant to General Augustus Pitt Rivers. Along with other family members he is buried in the village churchyard.

References

  • Ightham Parish Council
  • Ightham Community website