Otham comes from the Old English ‘hām’ meaning a 'village, homestead' combined with
a warlord’s name; therefore, 'Otta's homestead/village'. The Domesday Book chronicles
Otham as Oteham.
Otham parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Nicholas. The
Normans built it in the 12th century with additions and extensions in the following
200 years. In 1667, there is a record of three bells in the tower, to which Richard
Phelps added a tenor in 1714 and Lester and Pack a treble in 1755. In 1865, the Victorian
architect R Wheeler carried out a restoration of the church. In 2012, John Taylor
augmented the bells to six with two bells cast by Alfred Bowell in 1925 for Campton,
Beds and a new bell cast by himself in 2011.
