Northbourne, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent



Parish History
Although Northbourne St Augustine is an Acient Parish church dating from 1120 the history of the church site is much older, one of the earliest sites of Christian worship in England. St. Augustine landed at Ebbsfleet, some 5 miles away, in AD597. In 6l8 Eadbald, newly crowned King of Kent, gave land at Northbourne (thirty ploughs worth) to St. Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury.

Records show that a church was built at this time, this was superseded by a further and larger Anglo Saxon church built on the same site. Almost certainly some of the fragments of masonry of these earlier churches, including "Barley Twist" mouldings can be seen built into the wall of the present church, built about AD 1120.

The church is designated Grade I listed building by English Heritage.

The modern parish is Northbourne with Betteshanger with Ham and includes the redundant Betteshanger church which is now a chapel to Northbourne Park School a private preparatory school. Finglesham is part of the parish along with Northbourne and Betteshanger Circle, the former mining community. Northbourne was until the closure of the mines of the Kent coalfield a mining community parish.

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)

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. Add links to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection

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. See Kent Census

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.

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.