Cranbrook, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
CRANBROOK (St. Dunstan), a market-town and parish, and the head of a union, in the hundred of Cranbrooke, Lower division of the lathe of Scray, W division of Kent, 7 miles E from Lamberhurst, and 48 SE by E from London.

Cranbrook is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of West Charing. The church is named for St. Dunstan with registers commencing 1559.

Cranbrook, a small town, a parish, a sub-district, a district, and a hundred in Kent. The town stands in the Weald, on the river Crane, 5 miles south-by-west of Staplehurst rail station, and 14 south-by-east of Maidstone; consists chiefly of one long street;  is a seat of petty sessions and a polling place;  and has a post office under Staplehurst with a savings banks and a money order office;  another banking office, two chief inns, a market house, a parish church, five dissenting chapels, a free grammar school, and a workhouse.

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

 * 1837-1941 Cranbrook Registration District
 * 1941-1974 Maidstone Registration District
 * 1974-1979 Tombridge 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 Cranbrook 1841-1891
 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * Findmypast Census ($)

Poor Law Unions

 * Cranbrook 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.


 * 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

 * Cranbrook Parish Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * Church of St Dunstan British Listed Buildings
 * Church of the Holy Trinity British Listed Buildings
 * Parishes: Cranbrooke British History Online
 * St Dunstan Cranbrook Kent Churches