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Otford: centre of the universe? |
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Page 1 of 6 It’s hosted Henry VIII, has three roman villas and is home to the most pampered ducks in Britain. There’s even a solar system in the park, found John Morrison
Photography by Simon Chandler and Russell Harper
>> View our gallery of Otford images here.
 Say what you like about Henry VIII, but he knew how to travel in style.
When he stayed the night in Otford in 1520, he brought along not just
the first of his six wives, Catherine of Aragon, but an entourage of
four thousand followers. Young Henry, slim and sporting, was on his way
to France for the meeting with King François I that became known as the
Field of the Cloth of Gold, a good example of what would today be
called royal bling. In those days, monarchy was a competitive business
and Henry, ruling a small offshore island nation a fifth of the size of
France, was obliged to show off. Did he write a thank-you letter to his
host in Otford, the Archbishop of Canterbury? It would be nice to think
so, but I suspect it would have been out of character.
Today only a single tower and a few walls remain of the enormous palace
in which Archbishop William Warham entertained his monarch. Completed
in 1518, it was bigger than Knole and one of England’s largest
buildings. But Henry found it too damp and preferred Knole. After it
reverted to the crown his successors lost interest in it and by the end
of the century it was a ruined shell, plundered for its stone and
bricks.
As local historian and archaeologist Cliff Ward points out with pride,
Otford was up and running long before anyone put Sevenoaks on the map.
People lived nearby when Tutankhamun was ruling Egypt, and the village
has three Roman villas, mostly buried under modern housing. Otford is
listed in the Domesday book, and its church dates back to the 11th
century. All through the middle ages it flourished under the
Archbishops of Canterbury, including Thomas Becket, as the centre of
their estates in Kent. Under the Victorians Sevenoaks expanded faster,
probably because it already had two railway stations by the time
Otford’s station opened in 1882.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 29 February 2008 )
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