Hythe, Kent Genealogy

Guide to Hythe, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
HYTHE (St. Leonard), a borough, parish, and one of the Cinque Ports, having separate jurisdiction, in the union of Elham, and locally in the hundred of Hythe, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 33 miles SE by E from Maidstone, and 67 SE by E from London.

Hythe is a coastal town in the Shepway District of Kent, see Hythe kent Wikipedia and is one of the Cinque Ports, see Cinque Port Wikipedia

Hythe is dominated by the Royal Military Canal Royal Military Canal Wikipedia and the system of Martello towers which form defense against French invasion. See Martello Towers Wikipedia The town and nearby coastline retains military firing ranges and garrison and the bay is a popular holiday destination and residential area of Kent.

The Hythe St Leonard is an Ancient Parish and beneath the chancel is an ossuary. The church is 11th century in origin.

The parish church of St Leonard, Oak Walk, Hythe has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

See Edward Hasted 'The town and parish of Hythe', "The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent": Volume 8 (1799), pp. 231-253 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.

Family History Library film numbers 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

Census records
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. Category:England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK Introduction to Family History Centers 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.

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

Poor Law Unions
Elham Poor Law Union, Kent

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