Penshurst, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
PENSHURST (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of Seven-Oaks, hundred of Somerden, lathe of Sutton at-Hone, W division of Kent, 6 miles WSW from Tonbridge. There is a place of worship for Baptists.

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

Penshurst St John the Baptist is an Ancient Parish which includes the village of Fordcombe and St Peter's Chapel in the parish. See Fordcombe Wikipedia

The village and civil parish includes Fordcombe and a second church in the parish, Fordcombe St Peter which was built in 1847, previously a chapel of ease within the parish for Fordcombe residents.See Kent Churches website

The church is situated behind Leicester Square in the village and adjacent to Penshurst Place the ancestral Home and estate of the Sidney family and Viscounts de L'Isle. Penshurst Place was built in 1341. See Penshurst Place Wikipedia A map of the parish boundary may be found at A church near you

The parish church of St John the Baptist has been designated as a grade B listed building British listed building

The church of St Peter (known locally as St Peter's chapel Fordcombe) has been designated as a grade C listed building British listed building A map of the parish boundary may be found at A church near you

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 227-257. Date accessed: 12 September 2013. at British History Online 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
Penshurst St John the Baptist parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

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

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

Family History Library film numbers



Land Tax

 * Images for the Borough of Hall and Penshurst are available at FamilySearch Records see England, Kent, Land Tax Assessments - FamilySearch Historical Records 1780-1832


 * The image series described as "the borough of Hall" and later as Hall borough in the hundred of Wachlingstone" Land tax assessments for the parish of Penshurst and Hall borough, 1780-1832


 * Images for Penshurst 1780-1832 are in a separate series of images for " the town and uplands in the Parish of Penshurst".

Edward Hasted describes "There is a district in this parish, called Hallborough, which is within the lowy of Tunbridge....and there is another part of it, comprehending the estate of Chafford, which is within the jurisdiction of the duchy court of Lancaster."

The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 227-257. at British History Online

Census records
Census returns for Penshurst 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

 * Penshurst Poor Law Union,Kent until 1836
 * 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

 * 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