Sussex-Plus Mailing List Web Site

Kent

This page offers hints for genealogy research in Kent.
Draft version.
Introduction

Kent is the county to the east of Sussex in the south-eastern corner of England. As the closest county to mainland Europe it has seen many newcomers during all of its history. As Kent is a wide county and has/had over 410 parishes it is divided into East and West Kent for administrative and research purposes. The dividing line does not run exactly north-south and West Kent is much larger than East Kent. The ancient county of Kent included many parts of what is now south and south-east London. Check with the various archives to establish which has the records you are looking for, some may be held in London repositories.

The place to find most of the records for East Kent is the Canterbury Cathedral Archives. Situated on the north side of Canterbury cathedral the CCA holds parish registers and many other records.

The place to find most records for West Kent is the Centre for Kentish Studies at Maidstone. The CFKS holds parish registers and Kent wills before 1858 together with a great deal of local history material.

The main society for people researching their Kent ancestry is the Kent Family History Society. The KFHS offers the usual membership benefits of a quarterly magazine and the opportunity to register your research interests. In addition KFHS has many copies of parish registers and many other useful records available for sale on fiche. They also offer a postage stamp exchange scheme so that you can avoid expensive IRCs. KFHS also operates an internet mailing list open to members only.

Other Kent Links

Kent GenWeb
Kent Look-up Exchange
UK and Ireland Information Service - Kent
Kent Surname Interests *NB not being updated*
Surname Interests of subscribers to the Kent mailing list
Kent mailing list details
Introduction General Sussex Surrey Hampshire Isle of Wight