Paddlesworth (near Snodland), Kent Genealogy

Guide to Paddlesworth (near Snodland), Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish registers, transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Parish History
PADDLESWORTH, an ancient parish, in the union of Malling, hundred of Larkfield, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 6¼ miles SW from Rochester; united at an early period to that of Snodland.

Paddlesworth St Benedict is a redundant Anglican Church in the village of Paddlesworth near Snodland. The building is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II* listed building. British listed building

Churches Conservation Trust

Paddlesworth became an extra parochial place when the church closed in 1678; the small settlement around the 11th century church was wiped out in 1349 by the Black Death.

The church building was used for agricultural building before 1935 when it was restored as a church. Further restoration has since taken place to preserve it.

It stands on the Pilgrim's way used by travellers from Winchester Cathedral to the shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.St Benedict's Church Paddlesworth

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 4 (1798), pp. 471-473. Date accessed: 9 September 2013. at British History Online and Kent Churches website

Paddlesworth near Snodland should not be confused with Paddlesworth (near Folkestone), Kent

Civil Registration
This parish was from 1837 in the Malling 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
Paddlesworth (near Snodland) parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.


 * Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.


 * Family History Library film numbers

Census Records
Census returns for Snodland and Paddlesworth, 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

 * Malling 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