Shoreham is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It is located 5.2 miles north of Sevenoaks. The probable derivation of the name is estate at the foot of a steep slope. Steep slope was from the Saxon word scor. pronounced shor, but written sore by Norman scribes. The village of Shoreham contains three traditional independent pubs: The Samuel Palmer (formally Ye Olde George Inn), The King's Arms and the Crown; with The Rising Sun in nearby Twitton. History The Darent valley was one of the major areas of Stone Age settlement; Shoreham is not mentioned in the Domesday Book. In 1668, cricket was mentioned in a court case as being played at Shoreham, one of the sport's earliest references. It was also known as a smuggling area. Moreover, Shoreham was the most bombed village in the United Kingdom during the Second World War because the Army took over several manor houses for operational use. Papermaking was once a local industry; the mill closed finally in 1925. War memorial Shoreham was the birthplace and home of Private Thomas Highgate, who was the first British soldier to be shot for desertion during the First World War on 8 September 1914, following the Battle of and Retreat from Mons. In 2000, when the memorial was being refurbished, Shoreham Parish Council voted not to inscribe Highgate's name, although a space was left allowing for its inclusion at a later date. In 2006, a posthumous pardon led to some calls for Highgate's details to be added. The war memorial is incomplete. It has been established that at least one of its fallen, George Arthur Rouse (brother of Percy Aslin, marked on the memorial, both sons of Harriet Rouse, as recorded in the 1901 census), is missing. One hundred years after he died, an effort to have George added was underway. Opposite the church, and in a direct sight line from the war memorial, is the Shoreham Memorial Cross. The cross was cut into the chalk hillside in 1920 in remembrance of the men of Shoreham killed during the First World War. The cross is referenced in the inscription on the war memorial, which reads; ‘SHOREHAM/KENT/REMEMBER/AS YOU LOOK/AT/THE CROSS/ON THE HILL/THOSE/WHO GAVE/THEIR LIVES/FOR/THEIR COUNTRY/1914-1919’. The memorial is a Grade II listed structure. The Shoreham Cross was designated a Scheduled monument in October 2021. Shoreham Aircraft Museum The official opening of