Farnborough, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
"ARNBOROUGH, a chapelry, in the parish of Chelsfield, union of Bromley, hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 4¼ miles (S. E. by S.) from Bromley; containing 680 inhabitants. The name of this place, a corruption of Fearn-berga, is derived from the quantity of fern growing here : it had once a market and two fairs, but the former has been long since disused, and one fair only is now held, on Sept. 12th. The chapel, dedicated to St. Giles the Abbot, was rebuilt in 1639, in which year the ancient structure was destroyed by a tempest. Farnborough gives he title of Baron to the family of Long, created July 8th, 1826."

As may be seen from the parish history Farnborough had in reality been a parish much earlier than this gazetteer suggests.

Farnborough, Kent, should not be confused with the better known Farnborough, Hampshire and from places of the same name in Berkshire and Warwickshire. It is a village on the high road to Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Hastings, 14 miles from London.

Farnborough Church existed before 1070, perhaps as a wooden structure, which had either fallen down or was considered of no value when the Domesday Survey was made in 1085.

Farnborough’s original paper Register in which, apart from the required entries, information was recorded of the change of Kings and Rectors and other interesting facts, is still in existence. The first entry of this kind is a change of Rector, recorded in 1576:

‘Septembris 18, 1576, Gulielmo Gybbins, sepulto, Rector ecclesiae Chelsfield et Farnborough, cur. Successit Georgeius Smith, Artium Mr. Collegii Alsol. Oxon, socius 300 Aetatis do caturiae natus’.

This states, in Latin, that in 1576 William Gibbins, the previous Rector had died and had been succeeded by George Smith, Master of Arts of All Souls, Oxford, aged 30 years. At this time, Farnborough Parish and Chelsfield Parish constituted a Combined Benefice, a long-standing arrangement which continued almost to the end of the 19th century. This meant that the revenues of both parishes were paid to the same priest, who was Rector of both Parishes, each having its own Registers, Churchwardens and Parish Officers. As Farnborough was the poorer of the two parishes, the Rectors spent most of their time in Chelsfield, some having left not even a signature in the Parish Registers, the parish work being left to the Curate they had appointed.

Lord Hardwick’s Act of 1753 saw the introduction of an official book of marriage forms. Farnborough partially complied with the act but the existing Marriage Register was ruled up in the same way as the official forms, and continued to be used. The official book was obtained somewhat later than officially required.

In 1938, the part of the Parish to the south of Shire Lane was detached to form, along with part of the Parishes of Chelsfield and Knockholt, the new Parish of Green Street Green. This was probably the first change in the boundaries of the Parish since it came into being.

After the Second World War, the Parish began to grow in numbers. New housing developments were established and by the 1950s it was recognized that an additional place of worship was needed to serve the increasing number of parishioners now resident on ‘the other side of the Parish’, cut off by the bypass. On Sunday 22nd June, 1958 ‘The New Hall Church’, situated in Leamington Avenue, was opened and dedicated.

Ten years later the Hall was re-named St. Nicholas’ Church Hall. Farnborough St Giles the Abbot is an Ancient parish church. Farnborough is in the poor law union of Bromley and, ecclesiastically, was in the diocese of Canterbury [from 1860 to 1905 when it was returned to the diocese of Rochester], in the archdeaconry of Maidstone and in the deanery of Dartford. The church is named for St. Giles with registers commencing 1558.

The church was built in the 17th century, and included in the parish was the Bromley Union Workhouse. The site of the workhouse infirmary later became Farnborough Hospital. This was replaced in the early part of the 21st century by a modern hospital named Princess Royal University Hospital.

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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.

Registration Districts

 * 1837-1934 Bromley Registration district

Church Records
The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor. Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England
Due to the increasing access of online records: Hover over the collection's title for more information Other Websites These databases have incomplete parish coverage.
 * Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
 * Dates in the following table are approximate
 * Joiner Marriage Index - Kent ($)
 * Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
 * The Genealogist Parish Registers - Kent ($)
 * UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

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

Census Records

 * 1841-1891 Census returns for Farnborough
 * Findmypast Census ($)
 * Findmypast Census ($)

Land Tax

 * 1780-1831 England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records

Poor Law Unions

 * Bromley Poor Law Union

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.


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

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

Websites

 * Farnborough Parish Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * Parishes: Farnborough British History Online
 * St Giles Farnborough Kent Churches