Speldhurst, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
Speldhurst is a village and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent Speldhurst Wikipedia

Speldhurst St Mary the Virgin was an Ancient Parish and included part of Tunbridge Wells town, also Groombridge chapel, Rusthall and Langton Green; a map of the parish boundary is available at A church near you

The church of St Mary the Virgin has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building

See Speldhurst North West Kent Family History Society for other places of worship and Speldhurst St Mary the Virginand Kent Churches website

See also Groombridge St John the Evangelist See Kent Archeology Society and Edward Hasted The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 275-300. Date accessed: 7 November 2013. at British History Online and Kent Churches website

The chapel of St John the Evangelist can be located at A church near you

The chapel of St John the Evangelist Groombridge Hill has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

Rusthall St Paul is a parish formed from this parish and a map of the parish boundary (Including the location of the Rusthall St Paul Church Centre is available at A church near you and Kent Churches website

Langton Green All Saints Groombridge Hill also developed from this parish; a map of the parish boundary is available at A church near you See Kent Churches website

The church of All Saints Langton Green has been designated as a grade II* listed building British listed building

Here is an important jurisdictional perspective by Samuel A. Lewis -

SPELDHURST (St. Mary), a parish, in the union of Tonbridge, partly in the hundred of Somerden, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, but chiefly in the hundred of Washlingstone, lathe of Aylesford, W. division of Kent. There is a private chapel at Groombridge, built in 1625; also a chapel on the boundary line dividing this parish from that of Tonbridge.

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

To find the names of the neighboring parishes, use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map. In this site, search for the name of the parish, click on the location "pin", click Options and click List contiguous parishes.

Kent Online Parish Clerks has indexes available for select parishes. Records are also available at the Kent Archives.

Land Tax
Images for Speldhurst available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments (FamilySearch Historical Records) 1780-1832

Census records
Census returns for Speldhurst 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
Tonbridge 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
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