Betteshanger, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
BETTESHANGER (St. Mary), a parish, in the union and hundred of Eastry, lathe of St. Augustine, E division of Kent, 4 miles SSW from Sandwich. Betteshanger is in the Northbourne civil Parish in the Dover district of Kent.

Northbourne, Kent is an Ancient parish.

The Church of St Mary the Virgin was within that parish and served the Betteshanger community as it grew with the industrialization of the village. The church of St Mary the Virgin is on the site of an earlier 13th century church and dates from the 1853 design of architect Anthony Salvin for Sir Walter James. The church is at the northern corner of Northbourne Park and the approach is by a dirt track. The site is now part of Northbourne Park School.

Betteshanger village and the colliery developed in the 1920's were the largest pit in the Kent Coalfield. The pit closed in 1989. Betteshanger Wikipedia

Find Neighboring Parishes
Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map
 * Type the name of the parish in the search bar
 * Click on the location pin on the map
 * Choose Options from the pop up box
 * Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes

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

 * 1837-1935 Eastry 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
The 1851 census of England and Wales attempted to identify religious places of worship in addition to the household survey census returns.
 * Census returns for Betteshanger 1841-1891
 * Ancestry UK Census Collection
 * FindMyPast Census

Land Tax

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

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.
 * 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

 * Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * Parishes: Northborne British History Online
 * St Augustine, Northbourne A Church Near You
 * St Mary Betteshanger Kent Churches
 * St Mary Northbourne, Kent British Listed Buildings