Usbornes (or Usbarn) have owned land at Loddenden (Kent) (Lodelyndenne) since the reign of Edward lll (1327-1377). Usbarn the borsholder was a court official (1367). William Usbarn owned a park (enclosure)(1371). Alice Usbarn "broke the assize". John Usberne is recorded a little later.

The house, known incorrectly as Loddenden Manor with its surrounding estate, was sold out of the family in 1908. The vendor  had, in an old frame, a hand engrossed family pedigree >>>>>> (adjacent). There are 26 names on it starting with Osbert Usborne, born 1405. On top is an urn containing symbolic family ashes and below a coat of arms which first appears in family records in 1668, but really belongs to the nearby Ashford (Kent) Osbornes who became Dukes of Leeds.

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The family seems to have made their fortune as tanners. They built the existing house around 1550. Contemporary accounts  described it as a 'mansion'. Later generations are recorded as yeomen, clothiers, hop merchants, leather sellers etc. Two became church ministers jailed for non-conformity in 1662. Edward, born in 1705 made his mark as a London banker and undertook major enlargement of the house and estate. He was probably responsible for the family pedigree above. The generation born between 1740 and 1760 produced no male heirs. Elizabeth the last Usborne in direct line died at Loddenden in 1839. Mrs Ann Usborne, wife of Edward, lived there till 1875 when it passed to her Australian niece Elizabeth Downing. Curiously Elizabeth married Thomas Starling Usborne to whom she was not related. Thomas died in 1903 and Elizabeth in 1906. The estate was sold in 1908 to H.S.Cowper F.S.A. an amateur archivist and archeologist who published a book in 1914 called Great Loddenden---The Usbornes of Loddenden from which much detail has been gleaned.
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