Hougham

"HOUGHAM, a parish partly in the hundred of Bewsborough, lathe of St. Augustine, and partly within the jurisdiction of the Cinque-Port_liberty_of_Dover, lathe of Shepway, county Kent, 2 miles S.W. of Dover, its post town. It is a small agricultural parish containing the hamlets of Church and West Hougham. It is bounded on the E. by the high range of chalk cliffs forming the continuation of Shakespeare's Cliff, and from the summit of which is a view of the hills of Boulogne, across the Channel. The South-Eastern railway and the river Stour pass through the parish. The vicarial tithes have been commuted for a rent-charge of £175 6s.' The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury, value £185, in the patronage of the archbishop. The parish church, dedicated to St. Lawrence, has been enlarged and restored. It has tombs of the Houghams, Malmaines, Fynens, &c. The parochial charities produce about £6 per annum. Besides the parish church, there is a district church called Christ Church. The Wesleyans have a place of worship. Many persons who died of the plague in 1665 were buried here at a spot still known as "The Graves.""

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]