Brenzett, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent



Parish History
Brenzett St Eanswith is an Ancient Parish in Romney Marsh. The church is supported by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.

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 noviciate 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.

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)

Family History Library film numbers

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.

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.

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. 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.