Godmersham is a village and civil parish in the

Ashford Ashford may refer to: Places Australia *Ashford, New South Wales *Ashford, South Australia *Electoral district of Ashford, South Australia Ireland *Ashford, County Wicklow *Ashford Castle, County Galway United Kingdom * Ashford, Kent, a town ** ...

District of Kent, England. The village straddles the Great Stour river where it cuts through the North Downs and its land is approximately one third woodland, all in the far east and west on the escarpment of the North Downs. It is six miles north-east of

on the A28 road midway between Ashford and Canterbury in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty with the North Downs Way and Pilgrims' Way traversing the parish. The village is divided in two by the floodplain of the Stour. The parish civil includes Godmersham village itself, and Bilting. It shares many of its activities with the neighbouring parish of

Crundale Crundale may refer to: * Crundale, Kent, a village and civil parish in the Ashford District of Kent, England *Crundale, Pembrokeshire Crundale is a village near Haverfordwest in south Pembrokeshire, southwest Wales. It is the principal residenti ...

, a smaller parish to the east.

History

The first known record of Godmersham was AD824 when

Beornwulf, King of Mercia Beornwulf (died 826) was King of Mercia (roughly the Midlands of England) from 823 to 826. His short reign saw the collapse of Mercia's supremacy over the other kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Biography A man named Beornwulf is ment ...

, gave it as a whole to Wulfred,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

. The village also is recorded in the Domesday Book. Bilting is thought to be older. Although a significant number of residents work on the land, most of the community has adopted economically a status whereby its people work in Ashford, Canterbury and further afield. Many commute to London by train from Wye station. The village school in ''The Street'' closed in 1946 and the shop/post office in 1982. It is many years since there was a public house in the village, which describes a minority of civil parishes today.

Saint Lawrence Church

The ancient parish church is dedicated to St Lawrence the Martyr, it is part

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

, part 12th-century ( Norman), and was restored in 1864, it contains a carving considered to be one of the earliest representations of Thomas Becket.

Godmersham Park

Godmersham Park House was built in 1732 and eventually became the property of Edward Austen Knight, brother of

Jane Austen Jane Austen (; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique, and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austen's plots of ...

who was known to have visited often. Her novel '' Mansfield Park'' depicts similar characters and scenes as those visible at the start of the 19th century, and in the case of architecture still present. The house is currently the home of the

Association of British Dispensing Opticians The Association of British Dispensing Opticians (ABDO) is the main professional association for opticians in the UK. History ABDO was formed in 1986 from the merger of the Association of Dispensing Opticians and the Faculty of Dispensing Optici ...

College. A drawing of Godmersham Park is also set to appear as the background for the £10 note due to enter circulation in 2017, which will predominantly feature the portrait of Austen allegedly drawn by her sister Cassandra.

Notable residents

* Samuel Pegge, Antiquarian, Vicar of Godmersham 1730-1750.Samuel Pegge the Elder in

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

accessed online 25 September 2007

In popular culture

Author Russell Hoban repurposes Godmersham as "Good Mercy" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel '' Riddley Walker''.

References

External links

Godmersham Village Hall Details at Ashford.gov

NGS Gardens Open for Charity
{{authority control Villages in Kent Villages in the Borough of Ashford Civil parishes in Ashford, Kent