Old Romney, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
Old Romney is a village and civil parish in the Shepway district of Kent.

Old Romney St Clement is an Ancient Parish and as the name suggests formed the original settlement of Romney Marsh. This was also the original port of Romney which gradually extended along the Rother toward the sea with either end called "Old" and "New" Romney. As the harbour silted up the importance of Old Romney lessened and soon only St Clement and the settlement remained by the 17th century.

The village and civil parish are on an island in the River Rother estuary, known in Roman Times as Vetus Rumllenum. The village church of St Clement is Norman in origin with later additions and restoration.

The church of St Clement, Old Romney 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 8 (1799), pp. 439-445. Date accessed: 30 September 2013. at British History Online and Kent Churches website.

The church has been a film location for two films. The 1960s restoration of the church was funded by the Disney Corporation who preferred to film here rather than at Dymchurch for Dr Syn, Alias The Scarecrow (1962) Also known as "The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh": based on the novel by Russell Thorndike. Walt Disney felt that the story of a fictional smuggling vicar of Dymchurch was better set in this location. The Loves of Joanna Godden (1947) Based on the novel "Joanna Godden" by Sheila Kaye-Smith was also filmed here.

Derek Jarman, film maker, is buried in the churchyard.Find a Grave

Civil Registration
See Romney Marsh 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
Old Romney 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.

Census records
Census returns for Old Romney 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
Romney Marsh 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
ROMNEY, OLD (St. Clement), a parish, in the cinque-port liberty of Romney, union of RomneyMarsh, lathe of Shepway, E. division of Kent, 1¾ mile (W. by N.) from New Romney.

Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain