Bethersden, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
BETHERSDEN (St. Beatrice), a parish, in the union of West Ashford, hundred of Chart and Longbridge, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 6 miles WSW from Ashford. Here is a place of worship for Particular Baptists.

Bethersden is a village and civil parish in the Ashford district of Kent. St Margaret, Bethersden is an Ancient Parish. Also in the village is the Baptist church (Union Chapel) which dates from the 1790s desire and the 1804/5 building prior to 1806 dedication. Bethersden was previously well-known for producing Marble and was a centre of the Kentish wool trade. Lovelace Place in Bethersden was the birthplace of 17th-century poet Richard Lovelace. Bethersden 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

 * 1837-1941 West Ashford Registration District
 * 1941-1998 Ashford 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 Bethersden 1841-1891
 * Ancestry UK Census Collection
 * FindMyPast Census

Land Tax

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

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.


 * 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

 * Bethersden British History Online
 * St Margaret, Bethersden Kent Churches
 * St Margaret, Bethersden A Church Near You
 * St Margaret, Bethersden British Listed Buildings