Charing, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
CHARING (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of West Ashford, hundred of Calehill, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 12½ miles ESE from Maidstone, on the road from London to Folkestone.

Charing is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent. Charing Wikipedia

The Ancient Parish of St Peter and St Paul was extensive. The ecclesiastical parish of Holy Trinity, Charing Heath, was created in 1874 to serve the villages of Lenham Heath and Charing Heath.

The Parish church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

The church of the Holy Trinity, Church Hill Charing which dates from 1874 has been designated as a grade II listed building British listed building See also Ashford Deanery website

Charing Methodist Church, Station Road Charing, is part of South Kent Methodist Circuit Church website

Civil Registration
See West Ashford Registration District Ashford 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
Charing St Peter and St Paul parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Charing Heath Holy Trinity parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Land Tax
Images for Boughton Malherbe, Kent Charing Egerton, Kent, and Lenham, Kent are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1831

The 1987 microfilming at Kent Archives reference: Q/RPL/71

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

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

Census Records
Census returns for Charing 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

 * West Ashford 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