Cobham Village

Surrounded by beautiful countryside, the village of Cobham is steeped in English and local history. The Lands dating back to King John.

Cobham Hall, once the ancestral home of the de Cobhams’ is now a private School for Girls, which on certain days is open to the public, hosting Open-air Concerts, Antique Fayres and Gymkhanas.

From the beginning of the thirteenth century, over the next four hundred years the de Cobhams and their heirs, the Brookes, dominated the village. In 1640 James I gave Cobham to his Stuart Cousin, la Belle Stuart – who came to be the original `Brittania’ featured on the old penny coin. In 1725 the Estate of Cobham passed to the Bligh family, the newly created Earls of Darnley. The Darnleys’ continued to influence Cobham and the surrounding area till recent times.

Three delightful Pubs – The Ship, The Darnley Arms and The Leather Bottle each have a story to tell. Like nearby City of Rochester, the village has strong links with Charles Dickens, - The Leather Bottle being the actual Inn featured in Dickens’s Pickwick Papers.

Cobham Church unlocks the doors to the history of the village. Heraldic ancestral monuments of the local Lords and Earls, with `Tilting’ helmets and magnificent Mediaeval Brasses take you back in time. The collection of Brasses, some more than 600 years old, is by reputation, the finest in the World.