Betteshanger, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
BETTESHANGER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Eastry, lathe of St. Augustine, E division of Kent, 4 miles SSW from Sandwich. Betteshanger is in the Northbourne civil Parish in the Dover district of Kent.

Northbourne, Kent is an Ancient parish; a map of the parish boundary including Betteshanger is available at A church near you. The Church of St Mary the Virgin was within that parish and served the Betteshanger community as it grew with the industrialisation of the village.

The church of St Mary the Virgin is on the site of an earlier 13th century church and dates from the 1853 design of architect Anthony Salvin for Sir Walter James. The church is at the northern corner of Northbourne Park and the approach is by a dirt track. The site is now part of Northbourne Park School. See Kent Resources website

The church of St Mary the Virgin Northbourne Betteshanger has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building and Kent Churches website

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9 (1800), pp. 583-604 at British History Online for references to the Betteshanger estate within the parish of Northbourne.

Betteshanger village and the colliery developed in the 1920's were the largest pit in the Kent Coalfield. The pit closed in 1989. See Coalfields Heritage Initiative Kent

See also Betteshanger Wikipedia

Civil Registration
Eastry Registration District

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

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Land Tax
Images for Betteshanger and Ham, Kent are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1831

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

 * 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at FindMyPast ($), index and images (coverage may vary)

Census Records
Census returns for Betteshanger 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.
 * Category:England Family History Centres to locate local Family History Centres in UK
 * Introduction to Family History Centers 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

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.


 * See England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records

Local Family History Centre

 * Canterbury Family History Centre, Kent


 * Maidstone Family History Centre, Kent


 * 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

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