| Cobham | |
|---|---|
| Village andcivil parish | |
 View of the Leather Bottle pub on The Street from St Mary Magdalene churchyard | |
  Cobham Location withinKent | |
| Population | 1,469 (2011)[1] |
| OS grid reference | TQ671683 |
| Civil parish |
|
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | GRAVESEND |
| Postcode district | DA12, DA13 |
| Dialling code | 01474 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| UK Parliament | |
| 51°23′23″N0°24′03″E / 51.3898°N 0.4008°E /51.3898; 0.4008 | |
Cobham (/ˈkɒbəm/[2]) is a village andcivil parish[3] in the borough ofGravesham inKent, England. The village is located 6 miles (10 km) south-east ofGravesend, and just south ofWatling Street, the Roman road fromDover to London. The parish, which includes the hamlet of Sole Street, covers an area of 1,240 hectares (3,100 acres) and had a population of 1,469 at the 2011 census,[1] increasing from 1,328 at the 2001 census.
Since 1970 the village has been in aconservation area which aims to preserve the historic character and appearance of the area.[4]
Cobham is twinned withBaturyn in northernUkraine. The twinning agreement was signed in a virtual ceremony on 11 March 2025.[5]
Cobham parish has had several manors;[6][7] one of which, Henhurst, was mentioned in theDomesday Book of 1086, and in theTextus Roffensis as being part of theRochester Bridge charter of c.975, so there has been a settlement in the parish since at least the10th century.[6][7] The largest and most notable of the manors is Cobham Hall, which mainly consisted of the manor house,Cobham Hall, and the private park ordemesne attached to the house; there is no record of anymanorial courts being held before the 16th century, and the lands under rent to the lord of the manor were not significant so at least one court was shared with the other manors within the parish.[8] The parish of Cobham was originally within the ancienthundred of Shamwell.[9] In 1132,Henry I gave Cobham church, which was then an annex of the church atShorne, to Bermondsey Priory (later to becomeBermondsey Abbey).[10][6]
The Cobham family was established here before the reign ofKing John[11] (who reigned from 1199).
The lords of the manor of Cobham were Hereditary High Stewards[12] of nearbyGravesend; in 1692 the custom was stopped thatGravesend paid to the lords of Cobham a yearly sum (apontage) for the use of the landing stage on theRiver Thames.[13]
Cobham Hall was the former home of theEarls of Darnley: its gardens were designed byHumphry Repton.[14] The survivinggrade I listed[15]manor house is one of the largest and most important houses in Kent.[15] Today the building housesCobham Hall School, a private boarding school for girls with a co-educational sixth form, which retains 150 acres (61 hectares) of the ancient estate.[16] In the formerdeer park of Cobham Hall is theDarnley Mausoleum, a pyramid-topped structure built in 1786 as ordered by the will of the 3rd Earl of Darnley.[17]
A 15th centuryhall house in Sole Street, that was threatened with demolition in 1970, has been dismantled and re-erected at theWeald and Downland Living Museum.
The parish church is 13th century and is dedicated to St Mary Magdalene.[18] It containsmonumental brasses, of which William Belcher in hisKentish Brasses (1905) stated: "No church in the world possesses such a splendid series as the nineteen brasses in Cobham Church, ranging in date between 1298 and 1529."[19] Thirteen of the brasses belong to the years 1320–1529 and commemorate members of the Brooke and Cobham families.[11] The Brooke Tomb contains alabaster effigies ofGeorge Brooke, 9th Baron Cobham (1497–1558) and his wife Ann Bray.[20]
To the immediate south of the church is the building known asCobham College, now analmshouse, which originally housed the five priests employed by thechantry founded in 1362 byJohn Cobham, 3rd Baron Cobham.
Another church in theecclesiastical parish, inLuddesdown, is dedicated to St Peter and St Paul.
The Earls of Darnley left Cobham Hall in 1957; since 1962 it has been Cobham Hall School, a private boarding school for girls; it opens to the public on some occasions in the year.[21]
In addition to Cobham Hall School, there is a local primary school, Cobham Primary School.[22]
There are two areas of open space in the parish: Cobham Park,[23] which includes extensive woodlands; andJeskyns, a one-time farm of 360 acres (147 ha), which has been turned into a greenspace area by theForestry Commission.
The village was also linked to its namesakeHMS Cobham, aHam-classminesweeper which was an activeRoyal Navy vessel between 1953 and 1966.[24]
Cobham is served bySole Street railway station, on theChatham Main Line which runs fromGillingham toLondon Victoria viaBromley South.
Cobham has associations withCharles Dickens, who used to walk out to the village:[25] he set part ofThe Pickwick Papers in The Leather Bottle pub.[26] Other people connected with Cobham includeSir Joseph Williamson, who bought Cobham Hall in 1696,[27] and theinsane artistRichard Dadd, who, while recuperating in Cobham, murdered his father in 1843.[28] TheHon Ivo Bligh, the first Englishcricket captain to attempt to recoverThe Ashes from Australia, became the 8thEarl of Darnley in 1900, taking over the family home of Cobham Hall.[29] AuthorRalph Arnold lived at Meadow House,[30] which is described in his bookA Yeoman of Kent (1949).
Media related toCobham, Kent at Wikimedia CommonsTowns and villages in theBorough of Gravesham | ||
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