Chiselhurst

Chiselhurst is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Dartford.  The church is named for St. Nicholas with registers commencing 1559.

Chislehurst, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Bromley district, Kent.  The village stands on a fine common, elevated about 300 feet above sea level, near a station of its own name on the Direct Tunbridge railway, 3 miles east of Bromley;  and has a post office under London SE., and a fair on Whit-Wednesday.  The parish comprises 2,738 acres.  Real property in 1860, £10,973.  Population in 1861, 2,287.  Houses, 424.  The property is subdivided.

The manor belonged to the Walsinghams;  and passed to the Betensons and the Lords Sydney.  Camden Place was the residence of Camden the antiquary, and is now a seat of Marquis Camden.

The living [Chiselhurst] is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £487 with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, the Bishop of Worcester.  The church is early and later English;  was well restored in 1849;  has a spire, rebuilt in 1858;  and contains interesting monuments.  The vicarage of Sidcup is a separate benefice.

There are a church-school, Wesleyan and Roman Catholic chapels, national schools, a Roman Catholic orphanage, and charities £69.  Sir Francis Walsingham and Sir Nicholas Bacon were natives.

The sub-district contains eight parishes.  Acres, 16,809.  Population in 1861, 8,613.  Houses, 1,594.

Sidcup - a village and a chapelry in Chislehurst parish, Kent.  The village stands adjacent to the Lee and Dartford loop-line of the North Kent railway, 2-3/4 miles southeast of Eltham;  is a seat of petty sessions;  and has a station on the railway, and a R. police station.  The chapelry was constituted in 1844;  and its post town is Foots Cray, under London SE..  Rated property in 1859, £1,743.  Population in 1861, 976.  Houses, 187.

Sidcup Lodge, Sidcup House, and Pound Place, are chief residences.

The living [Sidcup] is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £200 with a habitable glebe house.  Patron, the Bishop of Worcester.  The church was built in 1844.

There are a Baptist chapel, a national school, and handsome endowed residences for six unmarried ladies. ¹

¹  John Marius Wilson, comp.  The Imperial Gazatteer of England and Wales. (London, England: A. Fullerton & Co., 1870).

Chiselhurst Bibliography

-- various. 'Archaeologia Cantiana'. Publisher: Kent, England: Kent Archaeological Society, various dates.  [Note:  The following volumes can be found on archive.org:  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 (1876), 11, 12, 13 (1880), 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32, 34, 35, vol. 1907 supplement.]

• General references to Chiselhurst: vol. , pp.
• Currently in revision

Location of Records

The following list of records is not intended to be exhaustive.  There are many records that are awaiting discovery in archive offices throughout Kent and England.  This list is intended only to set out those records that are available via at least two relatively easy-to-access avenues.  If you have used or discover a record that would be of benefit to other researchers, that is not on this list, please send me an email with the details of the archive - name, address and archival call number.

Census | Church of England | Non-Conformist | Parish chest | Workhouse and Poor Law | Land | Assizes and Sessions | School

Census

Church Records, Church of England

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Parish chest records

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Land Records

Assizes and Sessions Records
(poor laws, jail terms, oaths, and other municipal and public records)

School Records