Lenham, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent



Parish History
Lenham St Mary ia an Ancient Parish which included Lenham Heath and Sandway and is a market village.

The 14th century church is the rebuilt version of the former church destroyed by fire,described in 1942 by SPB Mais as 'a spacious Decorated medieval church with fine oak door, superbly carved Jacobean oak pulpit, stone armchair, ancient communion cup, and specially attractive pews.' It is the burial place of Mary Honeywood, who dying aged 93 left 367 descendants. Her courage in visiting martyrs during the reign of Mary Tudor features in 'The Book of Martyrs' by John Foxe (1516-1587).

Mentioned in the Domesday Survey, Lenham market dates back to 1088, when the village was an important crossroad settlement. Technically the fact that Lenham is allowed a market, makes it a town but the community have always desired to maintain its village status.

The Pilgrims' Way/North Downs Way passes just to the north of Lenham, higher up on the 'downs' and it features a war memorial of a 200-foot chalk cross carved into the scarp slope of the downs. First constructed in 1922, to remember those who fell in the Great War, and fully restored in 1994, the cross now commemorates the dead of both world wars. To avoid its use as a navigation aid by the Luftwaffe, the cross was filled in between 1939 and May 1945.

Civil Registration
This parish was in the Hollingbourne 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
Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records. Add the contact information for the office holding the original records. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection.

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.

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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.