Sandwich St Peter, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent



Parish History
Sandwich St Peter is an Ancient Parish.

One of 3 Norman churches in the town it was damaged in the French attacks of the 13th century and rebuilt by the Carmelite "White Friars" from France and extended in the 14th century the church enjoyed the prosperity of the town and port.

Elizabeth I granted 25 Flemish families permission to liv in Sandwich and St Peter became the "Stranger's Church" in 1564 when the plague came to the town in an effort to halt the spread of the disease. The 1661 tower collapse was repaired by the Flemish community and the distinctive tower reflects their work.

The 1948 unifiaction of the three churches with Sandwich St Clement, Kent becoming the parish church lead to the decline of the church and closure for worship. It became the chapel to Sir Roger manwood's School from 1952 but the scale of restoration work to the tower in 1973 was beyond the resources of the school and the church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust who maintan the fabric of the building. and the church is used for community events and is opene to the public.

Civil Registration
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
Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

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. See Kent Census

Poor Law Unions
Eastry 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.