Brenzett, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
BRENZETT (St. Eanswith), a parish, in the union of Romney-Marsh, partly in the hundred of Aloesbridge, but chiefly in the liberty of Romney-Marsh, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 4½ miles NW by W from Romney. There is a place of worship for Wesleyans.

Brenzett is a village and civil parish in the Shepway district of Kent. Brenzett St Eanswith is an Ancient Parish in Romney Marsh. The church is supported by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.

Brenzett St Eanswith with Snargate, Kent is a parish in the Diocese of Canterbury and part of the benefice of Appledore with Brookland and Fairfield and Brenzett with Snargate. The church is dedicated to St Eanswyth, a Saxon princess, granddaughter of Ethelbert the first Christian King of Kent, who founded a nunnery at Folkestone. She served her novitiate in Normandy, and became the founder and Abbess of the nunnery of Peter and Paul, which was built in 630.

The church belonged to the Abbey of Gynes in Artois Flanders in the 13th century, and passed into the hands of Henry V c. 1415. It was heavily restored in 1876, but by 1902 had fallen into a state of bad repair. The chancel and bell-turret had to be dismantled and rebuilt. It has an original 13th century priest's door and some Norman herring-bone masonry.

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
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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 Districtsb

 * 1837-1941 Romney Marsh Registration District
 * 1941-1974 Folkestone 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


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
 * Findmypast Census

Land Tax

 * England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1831 Brenzett

Poor Law Unions

 * Romney Marsh Poor Law Union, Kent

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish.
 * Kent Probate Records 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

 * Brenzett Parish Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * Parishes: Brenset British History Online
 * St Eanswith British Listed Buildings
 * St Eanswith Brenzett Kent Churches