Registered with the Civic Trust Affiliated to the Council for the Protection of Rural England and the Kent Federation of Amenity Societies Registered Charity no. 272974

People have lived in the area for at least three thousand years; a Bronze-age urn was found in Greenhill Road in 1970, and there have been many Iron-age and Roman finds. The name Otford seems to have been used as early as 800AD and may be associated with the battle that Offa, King of Mercia, fought in the district against the Kentishmen about the year 776. The name Offa could have been corrupted to Ottenford and then to Otford. Some hundreds of years later a Canterbury scribe endorsed one of the king’s charters of 790: "The same Offa gave to the church of Christ in Canterbury a vill name Oteford".

The village has always centred around the church, the first stone church being built between 1050 and 1080, and the Bishop’s Palace. St. Bartholomew’s Church much added to and altered down the years is steeped in history. Part of the original 11th century wall is still to be seen.

Otford Palace was one of the residences of the Archbishop of Canterbury from the ninth century until Henry VIII forced Archbishop Cranmer to relinquish it to the Crown. In the early sixteenth century Archbishop Warham built the Palace in size and splendour to rival Hampton Court. Sadly only one part of the gate house remains but it is thought provoking to gaze at brickwork and think that Henry Tudor did the same.

There are many interesting private dwellings in Otford such as Pickmoss in the High Street and Broughton Manor. Descriptions of these can be found in a leaflet published by The Otford Society, which is on sale at the library and many local shops at 30p. The Society also provides leaflets on two pleasant walks from Otford free car park at the same price.

The Otford Society is a non-profit making organisation having over one thousand members who are residents of Otford. Its purpose is to preserve, as far as possible, all aspects of Otford’s character and village life.