Leeds, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
LEEDS (St. Nicholas), a parish, in the union of Hollingbourne, hundred of Eyhorne, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 5 miles E by S from Maidstone. Leeds is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone Borough of Kent, see Leeds Kent Wikipedia Leeds Castle is within the village, see Leeds Castle Wikipedia

Leeds St Nicholas is an Ancient Parish; a map of the modern Leeds and Broomfield parish boundary is available at A church near you

The Parish church of Leeds St Nicholas has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp. 478-502. Date accessed: 19 August 2013. at British History Online and Kent Churches website

Broomfield St Margaret was a chapelry within the parish of Leeds; Edward Hasted describes the church The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp. 502-505 at British History Online

Civil Registration
This parish was in the Hollingbourne registration district See Maidstone 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:

Original deposited registers are held at:

Centre for Kentish Studies,County Hall,Maidstone,Kent ME14 1XX

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

Family History Library film numbers See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Land Tax
Images for Leeds available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1832.

Census records
Census returns for Leeds 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition 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

Poor Law Unions
Hollingbourne 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
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 collections using the portal.

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