Denton (near Gravesend), Kent Genealogy

Guide to Denton (near Gravesend), Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
DENTON (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of North Aylesford, hundred of Shamwell, lathe of Aylesford, W division of the county of Kent.

Denton is part of the Town of Gravesend in the Gravesham district of Kent.

Denton St Mary is a former Ancient Parish in Denton near Gravesend. The ruined church site was rebuilt in 1903, conserving some medieval remains to form the Roman Catholic church of St Mary since 1940 and is in Gravesend civil parish. The ancient small church was part of the mediaeval manor which was later part of the see of Rochester lands.

Edward Hasted in his 1797 The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 Pages 471-477 describes the church as follows:

"The church, which was dedicated to St. Mary, was but a small building of one aisle, with a chancel and bell tower. It stood on a bank, close to the road side; the whole has been some time in ruins, though it was not so in the Kilburns time, in the middle of the last century; soon after which, service being discontinued in it, the materials were taken down and sold, or otherwise disposed of. The outside walls, for the most part, yet remain, having the buildings of the adjoining farm yard built up against the north side of it. On the south east human bones have at times been dug up where the cemetery was, now part of the farm-yard." This ancient parish should not be confused with Denton (near Dover), Kent in the same county.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
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 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

Civil Registration
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.

Registration Districts

 * 1837-1884 North Aylesford Registration District
 * 1884-1923 Strood Registration District
 * 1923-1935 Strood and Hoo Registration District

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Kent ($)
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Kent ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records

 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * Census returns for Gravesend 1841-1891
 * FindMyPast Census ($)

Poor Law Unions

 * North Aylesford Poor Law Union, Kent (renamed Strood)

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.
 * England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records

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

Websites

 * Church of St Mary (Roman Catholic) British Listed Buildings
 * St Mary Church, Denton near Gravesend Kent Archeological Society
 * St Mary Denton Next Gravesend Kent Churches
 * Parishes: Denton British History Online