Cudham, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
CUDHAM (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Bromley, hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W division of Kent, 7 miles SE by S from Bromley.

Cudham is a village in the London Borough of Bromley, Cudham Wikipedia contains links to the history of the parishes of Cudham and Downe, Kent

Cudham St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish with a large parish boundary including the settlements at Aperfield, Leaves Green and the linear settlement of Cudham.

The Domesday survey mentions the church and the Norman church replaced the Saxon church on the same site. Restoration and additions took place in subsequent centuries.

The modern parish is part of a united benefice with Downe, Kent in the Diocese of Rochester.

The parish workhouse was situated at Leaves Green.

From this parish was formed the parish of Biggin Hill in the twentieth century development along the Westerham- Bromley Road. Biggin Hill was developed to the north of Aperfield in the twentieth century. See Biggin Hill, Kent

The Church of St Mark's Biggin Hill was built in 1904 as a temporary iron structure to meet the spiritual needs of the 200 residents of Biggin Hill and was originally sited on Polesteeple Hill. It was not until the 1950s when Biggin Hill had 4,000 residents that a more permanent building was attempted with the demolition of All Saints Church, Peckham, and the movement of timber and bricks to the site in Biggin Hill acquired for the building from a bequest, which is the site of the St Mark's church. The parish church at Biggin Hill was dedicated on 25 April 1959 by the Bishop of Rochester and was formed from part of the Ancient Cudham parish. (for additional information on this, seeHistory of St Mark's Church)

Ideal Homes: A History of the London Suburbs is a combined effort by South London Borough Archives to illustrate the history of places within the boroughs. Part of the Bromley Archive image collection relating to Cudham is available at Ideal Homes

A history of Biggin Hill

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * 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

 * 1837-1897 Bromley 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 Other Websites 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

 * Census returns for Cudham 1841-1891

Kent Online Parish Clerks have Census transcripts


 * 1871 Census Enumeration District 16 Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * 1871 Census Enumeration District 17 http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Census/1871CudhamED17.html both include descriptions of the coverage of each Enumeration District
 * 1891 Census http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Census/1891Cudham.html
 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * FindMyPast Census ($)

Poor Law Unions

 * Bromley Poor Law Union The parish workhouse prior to the opening of the Union Workhouse at Locksbottom in 1844 was situated at Leaves Green.

The Cudham Parish Workhouse was built in 1731 at Leaves Green.

No documents relating to the foundation of the parish workhouse survive. There is a reference in a manorial rental of the manor of Cudham 05 29 October 1731 to the church warden and overseers of Cudham paying a quit rent of 1d for the workhouse. A 1788 survey of the parish includes the workhouse and garden. In 1803/4 11 people were in the workhouse according to an abstract of returns relating to the expense and maintenance of the poor.

The minutes of the Board of Guardians of the Bromley Union 1836 (Bromley Archive reference 346 G/BY AM1 record a report to the full board that there were 15 inmates although the workhouse was capable of accommodating 60. The inmates were transferred to Bromley, Chislehurst and St Mary Cray workhouses. The same meeting resolved to build a central workhouse.

To the modern eye the workhouse appears disconnected from the parish but much of the modern area of the Ancient Parish was constructed in the 20th century. The former parish Workhouse is a grade II listed building; the three cottages were renamed Jasmine Cottage, Ramblers Rest Cottage and Green View in the early 20th century. British Listed Buildings contains architectural details and is based on Bromley Archives material held at reference L78.4.(0)

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. croll 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

 * The church of St Peter and St PaulBritish listed building
 * St Mark's Church Biggin Hill
 * Little Tich Big Boots Dance retrieved from You Tube
 * Biggin Hill History
 * The history of ownership of the Blacksmiths Arms Blacksmiths Arms website
 * For gazetteer references see