Horsmonden, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
HORSMONDEN (St. Margaret), a parish, in the union of Tonbridge, hundred of Brenchley and Horsmonden, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 2¾ miles NE by N from Lamberhurst.

Horsmonden is a village and civil parish in the Tunbridge Wells district of Kent. The early 14th century church of St Margaret in Brick Kiln Land is distant from the main settlement of the village Horsmonden Wikipedia

The parish of St Margaret Horsmonden is an Ancient Parish which included the hamlets of Rams Hill, Sherenden and Caple Cross.

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

See Kent Archaeological Society and Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp. 280 at British History Online and The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp. 311-322 Horsmonden Parish

There is an 1848 Gazetteer entry: A Topographical Dictionary of England (1848), pp. 553-557. here and Kent Online Parish Clerks (See link below) have other gazetteer entries.

Civil Registration
See Tonbridge 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:

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Land Tax
Images for Brenchley, Kent, Horsmonden, Kent Pembury, Kent and Yalding, Kent available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1832

The Family History Library describes the microfilm from which images are derived:

"Brenchley in items 6-8, Horsemonden and Pembury in item 7, and Yalding in item 8. These four localities are included in the borough of Badmonden".

Edward Hasted refers to Badmonden as manorial land The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (1798), pp. 311-322 at British History Online

Microfilmed at Kent Archives reference: Q/RPL/48-50.

Images for Borough of Yalding are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1831 The borough of Yalding comprised Yalding, Kent, Horsmonden Brenchley, Kent and Hunton, Kent within the Land Tax bundle at the Centre for Kentish Studies Maidstone

The Family History Library describes the 1987 microfilming from which images are derived:

"Yalding, Horsmonden, Brenchley and Hunton are all common to the tax district with the borough of Yalding".

Kent Archives reference: Q/RPL/436.

Census records
Census returns for Horsmonden 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. 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.

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
Tonbridge 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

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