Cowden, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
Cowden is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of South Malling. The church is named for St. Mary Magdalen with registers commencing 1566.

Cowden, a parish in Sevenoaks district, Kent; on a headstream of the Medway river, at the boundary with Sussex, 4-1/2 miles south-south-east of Edenbridge rail station, and 7-1/2 miles west of Tunbridge Wells.

Cowden St Mary Magdalene is an Ancient Parish; although it is in the county of Kent it is a parish in the Diocese of Chichester Sussex

The parish boundary forms part of the county boundary with neighbouring Lingfield, Surrey and East Grinstead, Sussex Hartfield, Sussex Withyham, Sussex

The Church of the Holy Trinity Cowden Markbeech (Cow Lane Hever Kent) dates from 1852. The Church of Holy Trinity forms a united benefice with Hever, Kent and Four Elms

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 Sevenoaks Registration District
 * 1941-1979 Tonbridge 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

 * Census returns for Cowden 1841-1891
 * Ancestry UK Census Collection ($)
 * FindMyPast Census ($)

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.


 * 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

 * The Church of the Holy Trinity British Listed Buildings
 * Church of St Mary Magdalene British Listed Buildings
 * Cowden Parish Kent Online Parish Clerks
 * Parishes: Cowden British History Online
 * St Mary Magdalene A Church Near You
 * St Mary Magdalene Cowden Kent Churches
 * St Mary Magdalene, Cowden, Church of England GENUKI