Bredgar, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent     Kent Parishes

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



Parish History
BREDGAR (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union and hundred of Milton, lathe of Scray, E. division of Kent, 4 miles (S. W. by S.) from Sittingbourne. Bredgar is a village and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, see Bredgar Wikipedia

Bredgar St John the Baptist is an Ancient Parish which includes the hamlet of Bexon and is in the Diocese of Canterbury; a map of the parish boundary is available at A church near you.

The church dates from 14th century (west door from 12th) and was restored in 1894. It is designated a grade I listed building by English Heritage British listed building.

The village and civil parish are 4 miles south west of Sittingbourne and the M2 motorway crosses the parish.

See Edward Hasted The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 6 (1798), pp. 98-106 at British History Online and Kent Churches website

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.

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

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Original deposited registers are held at:

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

01622 694363

Fax: 01622 694379

archives@kent.gov.uk

Family History Library film numbers See also England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records.

Land Tax
Images for Bredgar available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) 1780-1832

Census records
Census returns for Bredgar 1841-1891

FamilySearch Records includes collections of census indexes which can be searched online for free. In addition

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
Milton 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