Cudham, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
Cudham is a village in the London Borough of Bromley, Cudham Wikipedia contains links to the history of the parishes of Cudham and Downe, Kent and references to the birth of the music hall artist Harry Relph (July 21, 1867 – February 10, 1928) who was born at the Blacksmith's Arms in the village. See Little Tich Wikipedia

Cudham St Peter and St Paul is an Ancient Parish with a large parish boundary including the settlements at Aperfield, Leaves Green and the linear settlement of Cudham. The Pilgrims Way traversed the escarpment of the North Downs and the parish had a substantial traveller population in common with neighbouring Downe, Kent ,Farnborough, Kent and Keston, Kent.

The Domesday survey mentions the church and the Norman church replaced the Saxon church on the same site. Restoration and additions took place in subsequent centuries.

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

The modern parish is part of a united benefice with Downe, Kent in the Diocese of Rochester.

The parish workhouse was situated at Leaves Green.

From this parish was formed the parish of Biggin Hill in the twentieth century development along the Westerham- Bromley Road. Biggin Hill was developed to the north of Aperfield in the twentieth century. See Biggin Hill, Kent

The Church of St Mark's Biggin Hill was built in 1904 as a temporary iron structure to meet the spiritual needs of the 200 residents of Biggin Hill and was originally sited on Polesteeple Hill. It was not until the 1950's when Biggin Hill had 4,000 residents that a more permanent building was attempted with the demolition of All Saints Church, Peckham, and the movement of timber and bricks to the site in Biggin Hill acquired for the building from a bequest, which is the site of the St Mark's church. The parish church at Biggin Hill was dedicated on 25 April 1959 by the Bishop of Rochester and was formed from part of the Ancient Cudham parish. (for additional information on this, seeHistory of St Mark's Church)

Ideal Homes: A History of the London Suburbs is a combined effort by South London Borough Archives to illustrate the history of places within the boroughs. Part of the Bromley Archive image collection relating to Cudham is available at Ideal Homes

A history of Biggin Hill

Civil Registration
See Bromley Registration district

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
parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Deposited Parish registers are held at Bromley Archives reference P 107

Bromley Central Library Telephone: 020 8461 7170 Fax: 020 8466 7860 e-mail: localstudies.library@bromley.gov.uk

Kent Online Parish Clerks parish page http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Cudham.html contains information about the parish and links to transcripts of Church records.

Kent Online Clerks are producing complete parish register transcripts for baptismal registers, marriage registers and burial records and hope to deliver these online by Summer 2013. These will cover post 1900 events working from original records with the consent of the Diocese of Rochester and Bromley Archives.

The Cudham Composite Register no 1 Bromley Archive reference P107/1/1 is a fragile tightly bound volume with considerable fading affecting several years in the years 1653-1733 and comprises Cudham baptisms 1653-1733, marriages 1657-1731, burials 1653-1733 and banns 1654-1657. The volume also includes note of vicars 1665-1830, note of church briefs 1661-1691 and many family burial plot sizes can be ascertained from these pages at the end of the volume. The microfilm process has resulted in many duplicate images due to the faded parts of pages and it has been found beneficial to work from the original document under adjusted lighting and magnification to establish wherever possible the transcript. Sadly there are several years where no identification of entries is possible and in others year only no date or month can now be read. The original entries indicate where no original events were recorded.

The Cudham Composite Register no 2 Bromley Archive reference P107/1/2 covers the years 1733- 1763 as follows:

Cudham baptisms 1733-1762, marriages 1734-1753, burials 1733-1763

For Marriages 1755-1793 see http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamMar1755.html for post 1755 marriage entries and the extent of confusion of marriage register entries.

For Marriages 1793-1812 http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamMar1793.html

For Cudham Banns see http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamMB1755.html 1755-1782, 1789-1813 for comparison with the confused and often misspelled marriage entries.

The Cudham Composite Register no 3 Bromley Archive reference P107/1/3 covers the years 1763-1800 and at the beginning the arrangement of entries is explained. The entries are confused in presentation basically running to 1783 on one side of pages; then in reverse from the back of the volume. The content includes a single marriage entry from 1783 and Baptisms and Burials 1763-1800.

The original register has a number of illegible entries and there is a random distribution of entries omitted originally, thus 1767 Baptismal entry may be found in a group of 1783 Baptisms. This is in part due to economy in the use of available space in the register and the realisation of omission of earlier records (usually so described). The original register has pencil page numbers to assist searching a chronological sequence; these do not necessarily appear on the microfilm exposures. The transition between 1783 baptisms necessitates moving from page 59 to page 78 to locate all entries for the year.

The microfilm process is therefore confused and the presence of part pages withing the binding add to difficulty for the microfilm searcher.

Parish registers births and baptisms 1800-1847, archive reference call number P107/1/4 provided courtesy of Bromley Archives and Local Studies; transcripts online at Kent Online Parish Clerks http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamChr1800.html

Cudham Baptismal Register 1813-1847 Bromley Archive reference P/107/1/5 Kent Online Parish Clerks Transcript http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamBur1800.html

The Cudham Baptismal register 1847-1917 Bromley Archive reference P/107/1/6. http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamChr1847.html

The Cudham Marriage register 1813- 1837 Bromley Archive reference P/107/1/10 contains the marriage of Thomas Landseer and his wife Belinda, see Thomas Landseer1794/5-1880

Cudham Burial Register 1813-1875 Bromley Archives reference P/107/1/17 contains 800 burial entries plus additional entries on a loose sheet for the remainder of the year 1875. There is duplication of entries for the year 1832. The original register with numbered entries contains 3 of a four page insert which has no register numbers but appears to be a transcript of all entries for the year. Online Transcripts are available at Kent Online Parish Clerks http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/PRTranscripts/CudhamBur1813.html

Cudham Burial Register 1875-1907 Bromley Archives reference P/107/1/18 contains 400 burial entries until April 1907.

Bishop's Transcripts for Cudham are found online at FamilySearch ( see also England, Kent, Bishop's Transcripts, 1560-1904 – DB) in the Historical Records England, Kent, Bishop's Transcripts, 1560-1911 series based on Microfilm conversion to digital images based upon Baptisms and burials, 1719, 1746, 1801-1812; Marriages, 1719, 1801-1812. Family History Library BRITISH Film 1469179 Item 11 Baptisms, 1814-1825, 1898; Burials, 1813-1825, 1898; Marriages, 1814-1825. Family History Library BRITISH Film 1469337 Item 3. See England, Kent, Parish Registers and Bishop's Transcripts (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Census records
Census returns for Cudham 1841-1891

Kent Online Parish Clerks have Census transcripts

1871 Census Enumeration District 16 http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Census/1871CudhamED16.html

1871 Census Enumeration District 17 http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Census/1871CudhamED17.html both include descriptions of the coverage of each Enumeration District

1891 Census http://www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Census/1891Cudham.html

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
See Bromley Poor Law Union The parish workhouse prior to the opening of the Union Workhouse at Locksbottom in 1844 was situated at Leaves Green.

The Cudham Parish Workhouse was built in 1731 at Leaves Green.

No documents relating to the foundation of the parish workhouse survive. There is a reference in a manorial rental of the manor of Cudham 05 29 October 1731 to the church warden and overseers of Cudham paying a quit rent of 1d for the workhouse. A 1788 survey of the parish includes the workhouse and garden. In 1803/4 11 people were in the workhouse according to an abstract of returns relating to the expense and maintenance of the poor.

The minutes of the Board of Guardians of the Bromley Union 1836 ( Bromley Archive reference 346 G/BY AM1 record a report to the full board that there were 15 inmates although the workhouse was capable of accommodating 60. The inmates were transferred to Bromley, Chislehurst and St Mary Cray workhouses. The same meeting resolved to build a central workhouse.

To the modern eye the workhouse appears disconnected from the parish but much of the modern area of the Ancient Parish was constructed in the 20th century. The former parish Workhouse is a grade II listed building; the three cottages were renamed Jasmine Cottage, Ramblers Rest Cottage and Green View in the early 20th century. British Listed Buildings contains architectural details and is based on Bromley Archives material held at reference L78.4.(0)

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

Maps and Gazetteers
For gazetteer references see www.kent-opc.org/Parishes/Cudham.html

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


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Extract from A Topographical Dictionary of England

CUDHAM (St. Peter and St. Paul), a parish, in the union of Bromley, hundred of Ruxley, lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, W. division of Kent, 7 miles (S. E. by S.) from Bromley.

Local Family History Centre
Orpington Family History Centre, Kent is within the London Borough of Bromley, located adjacent to Orpington Station and on major bus routes through the borough.


 * 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 collections using the portal.

Websites
St Mark's Church Biggin Hill

For very early sound film of Little Tich see Little Tich Big Boots Dance retrieved from You Tube

Gordon Irving's account of Little Tich Biggin Hill History

The history of ownership of the Blacksmiths Arms, which includes a plaque commemorating the birth of Henry Relph there is found at Blacksmiths Arms website