Editing Wouldham (section)

==History==
The tusk and teeth of a mammoth were excavated in Peters Pit and displayed in [[Rochester Guildhall]] Museum. In 1982, the skull of an 18-year-old teenager was excavated, dated as 1500 BC.<ref>{{cite web|title=Wouldham - Bronze Age Man|url=http://www.wouldhamvillage.com/bronzeageman.html|website=www.wouldhamvillage.com|access-date=3 April 2018}}</ref> Oral history suggests that the village was occupied when the Romans arrived, and that they constructed a ford across the Medway. The site of a temple dedicated to Mithras has been excavated and occurs on old maps. 
On the Wouldham Marshes is ''Starkey House'' built in 1483: a now restored [[Grade I listed]] medieval manor house called Starkey Castle.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-179417-starkey-castle-wouldham-kent |title=Starkey Castle, Wouldham |publisher=www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk |date=1 August 1952 |access-date=October 21, 2013}}</ref>

In the churchyard, is the grave of [[Walter Burke (Purser)|Walter Burke]], who was present on board {{HMS|Victory}} at the [[battle of Trafalgar]] and the man who held [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Nelson]] in his arms as he died. 
Wouldham primary school celebrates this connection in several ways, with its four sports teams being named after ships at the Battle of Trafalgar (''Victory'', {{HMS|Ajax|1798|2}}, [[HMS Royal Sovereign (1786)|''Sovereign'']], {{HMS|Britannia|1762|2}}), students being assigned into a house named after one of four famous figures at Trafalgar, and by holding an annual event at the nearby church to commemorate Walter Burke.

A [[narwhal]] was discovered in the 1940s washed up on the bank of the river,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://kentmessenger.newsprints.co.uk/view/10647374/pd1364334_narwhal%20whale_%201949_jpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919035636/http://kentmessenger.newsprints.co.uk/view/10647374/pd1364334_narwhal%20whale_%201949_jpg|url-status=dead |archive-date=19 September 2016 |title=Images of Medway Book - pd1364334 |website=kentmessenger.newsprints.co.uk}}
{{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160919035636/http://kentmessenger.newsprints.co.uk/view/10647374/pd1364334_narwhal%20whale_%201949_jpg|accessdate=19 October 2023}}</ref> and is documented in the [[British Natural History Museum|Natural History Museum, London]].

Until 1963 there was a [[ferry]] crossing over the Medway to [[Halling, Kent|Halling]] on the opposite bank.
<gallery center="">
File:Wouldham5520.JPG|{{center|Entrance to Wouldham}}
File:Wouldham5526.JPG|{{center|Approach to Wouldham Church}}
File:Wouldham5525.JPG|{{center|Wouldham Church}}
File:Starkey Castle from Footpath - geograph.org.uk - 1062154.jpg|{{center|Starkey Castle}}
</gallery>