Cooling, Kent Genealogy

England   Kent



Parish History
Cooling St James is a redundant Anglican church on the Hoo peninsula in the Medway district of Kent and was an Ancient Parish.

The church is designated a grade I listed building by English Heritage and dates from 13th-15th century with 19th century restoration.

The church is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and open to visitors; the churchyard contains a group of children's graves which are widely believed to have inspired Charles Dickens description of the church yard in the opening of Great Expectations.

Civil Registration
This parish was part of Hoo sub district and registrations from July 1837 to the present day are held at

Medway district The Register Office Northgate Rochester ME1 1LS Telephone 01634 338902 Fax 01634 338913 register.office@medway.gov.uk

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
Cooling, St. James Christenings Marriages Burials 1707-1977 reference (P98) digital images may be searched online at Medway Archives City Ark project http://cityark.medway.gov.uk

Kent Online Parish Clerks (OPC)

Family History Library film numbers

Contributor: Include here information for parish registers, Bishop’s Transcripts, non conformist and other types of church records, such as parish chest records.

Census records
Contributor: Include an overview if there is any unique information, such as the census for X year was destroyed. Add a link to online sites for indexes and/or images. Also add a link to the Family History Library Catalog showing the film numbers in their collection. See Kent Census

Poor Law Unions
Hoo 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.

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

Web sites
Contributor: Add any relevant sites that aren’t mentioned above.