St Paul’s Cray, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent    Kent Parishes



Parish History
CRAY, ST. PAUL'S (St. Paulinus), a parish, in the union of Bromley, hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-hone, W. division of Kent, 1 mile (S.) from Foot's-Cray. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

St Paul's Cray is now a district in the London Borough of Bromley, formerly a village and civil parish see St Paul's Cray Wikipedia

St Paul's Cray St Paulinus was an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Rochester. The church was built in the thirteenth century in the hundred of Ruxley. See Edward Hasted The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 2 (1797), pp. 125-134 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

St Paul's Cray St Barnabas was formed from this parish and became the parish church when St Paulinus could not fulfil the needs of the developing parish.

The contraction of the London Docks lead to a movement to the area of a large traveller community from Bermondsey as well as the movement of the Irish descendants of traveller families.

The church was declared redundant by Order in Council 784 on 13 December 1995 and subsequently was acquired by the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

St Paul's Cray North West Kent Family History Society and St Paulinus St Paul's Cray

St Pauls's Cray St Barnabas was built in 1962 see Kent Churches website

Civil Registration
See Bromley Registration district

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)

International Genealogical Index Christenings 1584-1875 Batch (C147571) Marriages 1584-1837 Batch (M147571)

Deposited Parish registers are held at Bromley Archives reference P104 1580-1960

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

Link to the Family History Library Catalogue showing the film numbers in their collection

See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

From Spring 2012 material formerly held at

Centre for Kentish Studies,County Hall,Maidstone,Kent ME14 1XX

is available at Kent History and Library Centre see Kent Archives which also enables a search of the catalogue for Kent Archives material deposited at Canterbury Cathedral Archives

Land Tax
Images for Cray, St Paul are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) 1780-1831( March 2012) Suggested revision of waypoint made

These images are derived from 1987 microfilm at Kent Archives

Land tax assessments for St. Paul's Cray, 1780-1831 Family History Library BRITISH Film 1469937 Item 2

Census records
Census returns for St Paul's Cray 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. to locate local Family History Centres in UK 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

Prior to the 1911 census the household schedule was destroyed and only the enumerator's schedule survives.

The 1911 census of England and Wales was taken on the night of Sunday 2 April 1911 and in addition to households and institutions such as prisons and workhouses, canal boats merchant ships and naval vessels it attempted to include homeless persons. The schedule was completed by an individual and for the first time both this record and the enumerator's schedule were preserved. Two forms of boycott of the census by women are possible due to frustration at government failure to grant women the universal right to vote in parliamentary and local elections. The schedule either records a protest by failure to complete the form in respect of the women in the household or women are absent due to organisation of groups of women staying away from home for the whole night. Research estimates that several thousand women are not found by census search. Find my Past 1911 census search

Poor Law Unions
Bromley Poor Law Union

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)

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

Local Family History Centre
Orpington Family History Centre, Kent is within the London Borough of Bromley, located adjacent to Orpington Station and on major bus routes through the borough.


 * 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 collections using the portal.