Halling, Kent Genealogy

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

Parish History
HALLING (St. John the Baptist), a parish, in the union of North Aylesford, hundred of Shamwell, lathe of Aylesford, W division of Kent, 4¾ miles SW from Rochester.

Halling is a village and civil parish which includes North Halling, Upper and Lower Halling Halling Kent Wikipedia.

Halling St John the Baptist is an Ancient Parish and includes Lower Halling, Upper Halling and North Halling.

See Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 3 (1797), pp. 376-389 at British History online and Kent Churches website.

The church dates from the 13th century and was enlarged in subsequent centuries and was restored in 1889 by H. Benstead. It is designated a grade I listed building by English Heritage The Church of St John the Baptist, Dalison Court, Halling British listed building.

The parish is on the North Downs and stretches along the River Medway and includes the ruins of the Bishop of Rochester's palace. Halling was the site of chalk quarrying used in the manufacture of cement during the 20th century and the chalk extracted used to be shipped down the River Medway.

See Halling North West Kent Family History Society which includes Halling Baptist Church and Halling St John the Baptist

Civil Registration
North Aylesford Registration District Strood Registration District Strood and Hoo Registration District Chatham Registration 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
Halling parish registers of christenings, marriages and burials are available online for the following years:

Census records
Census returns for Halling 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

 * North Aylesford Poor Law Union, Kent (renamed Strood)

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

 * Gillingham Family History Centre, Kent
 * 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
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain