Chilham, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
CHILHAM (St. Mary), a parish, and formerly a market-town, in the union of East Ashford, hundred of Felborough, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 6 miles WSW from Canterbury.

Chilham is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent, see Chilham Wikipedia

Chilham St Mary is an Ancient Parish in the Diocese of Canterbury; a map of the parish boundary is available at A church near you The Chilham website includes a history of the church Chilham Parish website

The Parish church of St Mary, Church Hill, Chartham has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

Chilham Castle is within the village, see Chilham Castle Wikipedia

See Kent Archeological Society and Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 7 (1798), pp. 263-292. at British History Online and Kent Churches website

Civil Registration
See East 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
Chilham St Mary parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Original records in possession of Canterbury Cathedral Archives no.: U3/191/1/1-12,21-26

Census records
Census returns for Chilham 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

 * East 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