Talk:Keston, Kent Genealogy

New Parish Table
Keston parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Hover over the collection's title for more information

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.

Old Parish Table
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

International Genealogical Index Christenings 1541-1875 Batches (C131521, C131522) Marriages 1540-1752; 1754-1876 Batches (M131521, M131522)

Deposited Parish registers are held at Bromley Archives reference P 208

Bromley Central Library Telephone: 020 8461 7170 Fax: 020 8466 7860 e-mail: localstudies.library@bromley.gov.uk

The Keston Composite Register Bromley Archives reference P 208/1/1 includes Keston Baptism Register, 1541-1685; Marriage Register, 1540-1682; and Burial Register 1542-1685 including two victims of the plague 1666, deaths by accident are also recorded.

The register is on 86 parchment leaves with the remains of a further 3 which have been cut out. A note in the register on a paper leaf shows that the register was copied by Sir Alfred Scott, Garter King of Arms in 1887. Sir Alfred was additionally a distinguished musician in addition to his appointment as York Herald.

The Baptisms and burials in the register on close examination are not consecutive but are found in different parts of the volume, which appears to be a replacement for an earlier binding or book since there are several sheets of burials inserted which are identical in the register. Additional insertions include:


 * the lease of Thomas Stevens (1602)
 * Parish Accounts
 * a partial letter signed by Wm Wynard and others

Baptismal entries for 1638 are interrupted with a Latin inscription to refer to the latter pages of the volume ( in the Family Search image presentation the register entries for 1838 resume at image 22 of 29 and continue until 1685).

Marriage Register, 1540-1682 in the FamilySearch image presentation is found from image 7-11 of 29 images, burial entries follow on the same image. The path to these images reads England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911&gt;Kent&gt;Keston&gt;Baptisms, Marriages, Burials 1540-1685 although the last marriage in the volume is for August 1682.

The Ancient Parish register shows that Holwood was the principal land ownership in the parish and the early owners were the Pearch family. Later Holwood became the property of Sir William Pitt and subsequently the Frasier family who lived in the neighbouring parish of Cudham, Kent

The most frequent entries relate to the Phillips and Whiffen families (also found frequently in the neighbouring Downe, Kent parish registers).

London's citizens were often buried at Keston. John Pepys for example was a watch maker, who in common with his name-sake came from the parish of St Bride's, Fleet Street.

Another common feature is the burial of "nurse children". This term is found in local parish registers and may be defined as a child sent from London to local parishes to be nursed or cared for payment. Contrary to misperception the term used in burial registers does not imply that the child was unwanted or illegitimate but were often placed in the countryside to offer a healthier environment and in the case of Keston probably the parent's had a local connection. Death in the nurse's parish is reflected in the Keston registers like the 1692 burial of Elizabeth Staples. There are several generations of Staples in both the parish and the district in rural parishes.See also London Foundling Hospital: Reclaimed Foundlings for information on this subject.

A further composite register Bromley Archives register reference P 208/1/2 includes Keston Baptism Register, 1683-1812; Marriage Register, 1690-1752; Burial Register 1690-1812 contains 115 pages, several of which are left blank, others contain duplicate entries. There appear to be several years of "rough" and final versions and several Baptisms are recorded out of sequence. This includes a variety of other records relating to the parish including a 1637 copy of a lease to the rector (Bromley Archive reference P 208/21/2) and a manuscript of burials for 1738-1744 (Bromley Archive reference P208/12/1

This register contains collations, 1545-1800; list of rectors, 1602-1868; copy of clerk's fees c.1636 and following the burials of 1757, memoranda concerning the erection of a new font, 1716; building of a barn and stable, 1729; additional pews, 1732; erection of a gallery for young men and servants, 1733; and the conversion of the spring head into a parish well to be called the Archdeacon's Well, 1736

The sequence of this register can be confusing and there are several pages of duplicate entries. For this reason the Kent Online Parish Clerks transcript has been prepared to provide easy search and free from duplication.

Keston Baptism Register 1813-1862 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/4 Keston Baptism Register Bromley Archives reference 1862-1903 P/208/1/5 (microfilmed until 1900)

Keston Baptism Register, including lists of confirmation candidates, 1913, 1915 1903-1946 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/6

Keston Marriage Register, 1754-1810; banns 1754-1801 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/3 is the familiar standard form post 1754 marriage and Banns format. The volume for Keston was published by Joseph Fox, Parish Clerk to the House of Commons. See Kent Online Parish Clerks transcript http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/KestonMarrC.html

Keston Marriage Register 1818-1835 Bromley Archives P/208/1/7 see Kent Online Parish Clerks transcript http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/KestonMarrD.html

Keston Marriage Register 1838-1941 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/8 see Kent Online Parish Clerks transcript http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/KestonMarrC.html

Keston Marriage Register 1941-1955 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/9

Keston Burial Register 1813-1890 Bromley Archives reference P/208/1/10

Keston Burial Register1890-1943 ( microfilm until 1900) Bromley Archive reference P/208/1/11

The burial register series for Keston in common with neighbouring parish registers for Cudham, Kent and Downe, Kent contain references to local traveller families who resided for part of the year in the surrounding district. See also Farnborough, Kent

Keston Banns Register 1862-1906 Bromley Archives P/208/1/12

Microfilm conversion to digital images are included in England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records) for certain years due to limited filming and contractual agreements/privacy considerations.

Kent Online Clerks are in the process of production of complete parish register transcripts for baptismal registers, marriage registers and burial records and transcription work is completed; efforts are under way to deliver these online by Summer 2013. These will cover events to 1913 working from original records with the consent of the Diocese of Rochester and Bromley Archives.

Keston Methodist Church was within the Bromley Methodist Circuit; Keston Methodist Church: Registers see Bromley Archives reference 622/K/1

2012 Notes
Kent Online Parish Clerks will prepare parish register transcripts of the deposited parish registers at Bromley Archives. The work is scheduled to be undertaken in 2013. DowneOPC 15:09, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

The transcription team for Keston report in Support CaseID:2683448 issues relating to both the waypoint years and duplicated images for marriage registers and banns for Keston to Historical Records support. See Images at England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911 and can someone please edit England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)/Known Issues|Known_Issues  DowneOPC 05:19, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Why are online images only available until 1875 &amp; 1876 ( one entry) for the microfilmed Keston Baptism Register Bromley Archives reference 1862-1903 P/208/1/5 (microfilmed until 1900) The Keston transcription team are working to transcribe the 1876-1903 Baptisms for online publication at the Kent Online Parish Clerks website. Microfilm is available at Bromley Archive as well as the original register.

Kent Online Parish Clerks Transcripts
Transcripts will appear online during 2013; all parish register material has now been completely transcribed. See http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Keston.html for links to material.

Sadly FamilySearch did not respond to assist the volunteer transcription team in response to a 2012 submitted Cooperative Indexing agreement and transcripts are copyright to Kent Online Parish Clerks. DowneOPC 20:58, 13 March 2013 (UTC)