Ham is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the River Thames. Its name derives from the Old English word Hamme meaning place in the bend in the river. Together with Petersham, Ham lies to the east of the bend in the river south of Richmond and north of Kingston. It is connected to Teddington by Teddington Lock Footbridge at Teddington Lock and, during the summer months Hammerton's Ferry, a pedestrian ferry, links to Marble Hill House, Twickenham. Neighbouring settlements include: Petersham; Richmond; Twickenham; and Teddington.
Ham appears in Domesday Book of 1086 as Estreham. It was held by Haimo the Sheriff (of Kent) from Chertsey Abbey. Its domesday assets were: 1 plough. It rendered £1.
Ham's eastern boundary is formed by Richmond Park. When the park was enclosed by Charles I in 1637, Ham parish lost the most of the affected land, over stretching towards Robin Hood Gate and Kingston Hill, almost half of which was Common land. In return for this, a deed was struck which has effectively protected most of the remaining common land, Ham Common, to the present day.
Situated between the Royal Courts at Richmond and Hampton Court, the predominantly agricultural area developed from the beginning of the 17th Century, dominated by Ham House, the best preserved survivor of the period.
Other notable period houses in Ham include Ormeley Lodge.
Education
External links
- Hundreds of photos of Ham with brief descriptions at hamphotos.blogspot.com
- Ham and Petersham Online
- Grey Court School
See also
References
- Evelyn Pritchard: A portrait of Ham in Early Victorian times 1840-1860, 1991
- James Green, Silvia Greenwood: Ham and Petersham as it was, 1980, ISBN 0-86067-057-0
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Friday July 25, 2008 at 10:42:24 PDT (GMT -0700)
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