Folkestone St Mary and St Eanswythe, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent    Kent Parishes

Parish History
FOLKESTONE (St. Mary and St. Eanswith), a parish, in the union of Elham, hundred of Folkestone, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent; comprising the sea-port and incorporated and market town of Folkestone, which has a separate jurisdiction, the hamlet of Ford, and part of the chapelry of Sandgate. There are places of worship for Baptists, the Society of Friends, and Wesleyans.

Folkestone is the principal town in the Shepway district of Kent and a cross Channel port. Folkestone Wikipedia

Folkestone St Mary and St Eanswythe is an Ancient Parish; Folkestone Christ Church, Kent Holy Trinity and St Peter were formed from this parish.

A history of the church is available at Church History and an introduction to Folkestone contains further information about the religious development of the town.

The Wesleyan Methodist Chapel dates from 1866; Independent Baptist and Society of Friends Chapels were also built. The South Kent Methodist Circuit includes Folkestone St Andrew and Folkestone Methodist Church

The parish Church of St Mary and St Eanswythe has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building See Kent Churches website

The parish Church of St Martin Horn Street Folkestone Cheriton Wikipedia dates from a Saxon Church on the site and has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

The church of St Paul Sandgate High Street dates from 1849 British listed building See also Sandgate Wikipedia

The Church of St Peter, North Street dates from 1862-1864 has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed building See Kent Churches website

The Church of Holy Trinity dates from 1868-1869 designed by Ewan Christian and has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed building See Kent Churches website

The Church of St Saviour Canterbury Road dates from 1891-1892 and has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed building See Kent Churches website

The church of All Souls which dates from 1894 designed by Ewan Christian has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed Building

The Baptist Church which dates from 1873-1873 has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building

The United Reformed Church which dates from 1897 designed by Jospeh Gardiner has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady help of Christians dates from 1889 and has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building

St Marks Garrison Church dates from 1839-1841 and has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building

Civil Registration
See Elham Registration District Folkestone Registration District

Kent County Council (KCC) has a certificate centre at the Mansion House in Tunbridge Wells which holds all the completed registers for Kent since 1 July 1837 and can supply a certified copy of any Kent birth, death or marriage entry from any register within its custody or a Kent civil partnership registration from the government online database.

The Mansion House (Certificate Centre) Grove Hill Road Tunbridge Wells Kent TN1 1EP

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church records
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

International Genealogical Index Christenings 1635-1840 Batch (P020721) Marriages 1635-1840 Batch (M020721)

Buckland and Capel Wesleyan Church Christenings 1831-1837 Batch (C068281)

Mill Bay Baptist 1797-1837 (Births) Batch (C091641)

Zion Chapel Fenchurch Street 1779-1836 Batch (C068271)

Family History Library film numbers  Note that the search for FamilySearch microfilms returns a large number of results for the town and its records as a specific parish search is not possible in the hierarchy of the catalogue arrangement.

From Spring 2012 material formerly held at Centre for Kentish Studies,County Hall,Maidstone,Kent ME14 1XX is available at Kent History and Library Centre see Kent Archives which also enables a search of the catalogue for Kent Archives material deposited at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records.

Poor Law Unions
Elham Poor Law Union, Kent

Census records
FamilySearch has online census index collections and a search within the town and surrounding enumerations districts may be easier than referrring to the Family History Library collection of microfilms.

Census Returns for Folkestone 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition FamilySearch Centres offer free access to images of the England and Wales Census through FHC Portal Computers here have access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. to locate local Family History Centres in UK to locate outside UK. Many archives and local history collections in public libraries in England and Wales offer online census searches and also hold microfilm or fiche census returns.

Images of the census for 1841-1891 can be viewed in census collections at Ancestry (fee payable) or Find My Past (fee payable)

The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.

Ancestry UK Census Collection

Find my Past census search 1841-1901

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Probate records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Kent Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

See England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Local Family History Centre
Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent

Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * FHC Portal This centre has access to the Family History Centre Portal page which gives free access in the centre to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions.
 * Publication of the restricted access images England, Kent, Wills and Probate (FamilySearch Historical Records) and England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) means that it is advisable to telephone the centre to reserve a computer if you wish to view these

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain