Seal, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
SEAL (St. Peter), a parish, in the union of Sevenoaks, hundred of Codsheath, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W division of Kent, 2¼ miles NE from Seven-Oaks.

Seal is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks district of Kent Seal Kent Wikipedia

Seal St Peter and St Paul was formerly a chapelry in Kemsing, Kent Ancient Parish and only became an ecclesiastical parish in 1874; a map of the parish boundary may be found at A church near you.

The church site contained a Saxon church. The exact age of the present church, with its 15th Century rag-stone tower, is unknown, but the granting of the right in the 13th Century to the Lord of the Manor to hold a fair on the festival of St Peter and St Paul suggests that it is at least 700 years old and may date from 1250. Of particular note is the 54 inch tall brass of the 13th Century Sir William de Bryene, a former Lord of Kemsing and Seal, and the sideboard made from the church rood screen which was dismantled during the Civil War for safe keeping.

The church of St Peter and St Paul has been designated as a grade I listed building British listed building

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 51-59. Date accessed: 30 September 2013. at British History Online and Kent Churches website

From this parish was formed St Margaret Underriver.

The church of St Margaret Carter's Hill has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed building and Kent Churches website

Civil Registration
See Sevenoaks Registration District 1837-1941 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
Seal parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Register of Baptisms 1965-present, Marriage register 1985-present, Register of Burials 1925-present and other 20th century registers remain in the parish.

Non-Conformists (All other Religions)

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

Census Records
Census returns for Seal 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

 * Sevenoaks 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

 * Orpington Family History Centre, Kent is within reach of the Sevenoaks district, located adjacent to Orpington Station.
 * 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