Kent white horse symbol - 9251 Bytes gbflagpolemd.gif - 63006 Bytes

Kent Online Parish Clerks




white cliffs of Dover
Erith, St. John the Baptist, Kent © Copyright 2007 Derek Crompton - and licensed for reuse to Kent Online Parish Clerks' Project.
St. John the Baptist, Erith Parish Church

Erith Parish



     A View of the Parish

worldcomputer.PNG - 44860 BytesWe are sorry, there is no Online Parish Clerk for this parish. We have no other information or data for this parish except what is accessed by or detailed on this page. If you wish to volunteer for this post or have data you wish to contribute, please use the appropriate link on our
Contacts page.

Erith

Erith is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Canterbury and in the deanery of Dartford.  The church is named for St. John the Baptist with original parish registers commencing 1625.

Erith, is a Erith, a small town and a parish in Dartford district, Kent.  The town stands on the river Thames, and on the London and Gravesend railway, 3-1/2 miles northwest of Dartford;  was known to the Saxons as Erre-hythe, signifying the old haven;  was once a market and corporate town;  consists chiefly of one irregular street, but includes many recent villas and other good houses;  presents an agreeable rural appearance, with environments of green lanes and pleasant paths;  is a sub-port, where many large merchant ships, going up to London, stop to discharge part of their cargo;  and has a steam boat pier, extensive public gardens, two chief hotels, a railway station with telegraph, a post office under London, SE, and a fair on Whit-Monday.  The parish contains also the hamlets of Beadonwell, Belvidere, Lessness-Heath, Picardy, and Northumberland-Heath.  Acres, 4,585;  of which 735 are water.  Real property, £30,770.  Population, in 1851, 2,231, in 1861, 4,143.  Houses 681.  The property is much subdivided.

The manor belonged, at Domesday, to Bishop Odo;  and passed, through the De Lucys, the Badlesmeres the Waldens, the Comptons, and others, to the Wheatleys.

Belvidere House is the seat of Sir Culling Eardley, Bart..

Much of the land, along the Thames, above the town, is low and flat, and bears the name of Erith Marshes.  A vast sand-pit, with about 40 feet of vertical frontage, situated west of the town, shows formations and has yielded fossils which render it highly interesting to geologists.  Two powder magazines in the parish, said to contain 30,000 barrels, exploded on 1 October 1864, with an effect so far as London, which was momentarily mistaken there for an earthquake-stroke, and which was distinctly felt even at Maidstone.  Much damage was done to property;  but surprisingly few lives were lost.

Erith Reach, in the Thames, extends to Jenningtree Point;  is 1-1/2 mile long;  and has anchorage in from 3 to 5 fathoms;  but shoals toward the Essex side.

The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £600.  Patron, Lord Wynford.  The church is partly early English, partly perpendicular;  consists of nave and chancel, with low tower and spire;  and contains some good brasses, an altar-tomb of the Countess of Shrewsbury who died in 1568, and a monument by Chantrey to Lord Eardley.

A meeting, supplementary to the signing of Magna Charta, and designed to effect a final peace between King John and his barons, was held in this church.  The perpetual curacy of All Saints, at Belvidere, is a separate benefice.  Value, £100 with a habitable glebe house.  Patrons, Trustees.

There are chapels for Independents, Baptists and Wesleyans, and charities £8.  The Independent chapel is an ornamental ediface, in the pointed style.  Weaver, the antiquary, was rector.

Beadonwell, a hamlet in Erith parish, Kent;  4-1/2 miles east of Woolwich.

Belvidere, a station on the North Kent railway, 13-1/4 miles west of London Bridge.  Belvidere House, in its vicinity, near the Thames, is the seat of Sir Culling Eardley, Bart.;  and contains a choice collection of pictures.

Lessness-Heath, a hamlet and a hundred in the northwest of Kent.  The hamlet is in Erith parish;  bears the name of Lessness Heath;  lies round Abbey Wood rail station, 12 miles east of London bridge;  has become a favourite railway suburb of London;  and has a post office under London SE, a church, an Independent chapel, two Baptist chapels, a middle class school, and a charity school for girls and infants.  The church bears the name of All Saints-Belvidere;  was built in 1853, by Sir Culling E. Eardley, Bart.;  was enlarged after 1861;  and is in the early English style.  A section of the parish, containing about 1,000 inhabitants, was allotted to it.  The living is a perpetual curacy in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £200 with a habitable glebe house.  Patrons, Trustees.  The opulation of the hamlet in 1866 was about 1,800.

Lessness was the ancient name of Erith parish, and was originally written Loisnes.  An Augustinian abbey was founded at the hamlet, in 1178, by Richard de Lucy, chief justice of England;was given, by Henry VIII., to Cardinal Wolsey, toward the endowing of his new college at Oxford;  went, after Wolsey’s fall, first to William Brereton, afterwards to Sir Ralph Sadler;  and passed, toward the end of the 17th century, partly to St. Bartholomew’s hospital, and partly to Christ’s hospital, in London.  Some walls of the edifice still remain;  and the ancient boundary wall of the garden still stands.  A modern house, called Abbey Farm, stands on part of the foundation;  and a market garden is within the area.

The hundred is in the lathe of Sutton-at-Hone;  bears the name of Little and Lessness;  and contains the parishes of Erith, Crayford, Plumstead and East Wickham.  Acres, 11,659.  Population in 1851, 14,205;  in 1861, 32,584.  Houses, 4,645.

Picardy, a hamlet in Erith parish, Kent;  6-1/2 miles east of Woolwich.

Northumberland-Heath, a hamlet in Erith parish, Kent;  1-1/2 mile southwest of Erith.

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


Erith 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 Erith: vol. , pp.
  • Currently in revision

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Calendar of the patent rolls preserved in the Public Record Office--Edward II, Vol. 1. 1307-1313'Each volume has own index. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Public Record Office. 'Inquisitions and assessments relating to feudal aids : with other analogous documents preserved in the Public Record Office, A. D. 1284-1431', Vol. 3. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Great Britain, Exchequer. 'The book of fees commonly called testa de nevill, pt. 3'. The Book of fees contains information about the holdings of feudal tenants. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hall, Hubert, 1857-1944. 'The Red book of the Exchequer - Liber rubeus de Scaccario, Vol. 3'. The Red book of the Exchequer was a register intended to preserve important documents comprising charters, statutes of the realm, public acts (Placita), private deeds and ordinances, correspondence. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Glencross, Reginald Morshead. 'Administrations in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, Vol. 1. 1559-1571'. Publisher: Genealogical Society of Utah d.b.a Historical Books on FamilySearch; http://www.familysearch.org.

Hasted, Edward. 'The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent; Containing the antient and present state of it, civil and ecclesiastical; collected from public records, and other authorities: illustrated with maps, views, antiquities, etc. The second edition, improved, corrected, and continued to the present time'. 12 volumes. Publisher: Canterbury: Printed by W. Bristow, 1797-1801. URL: British History Online

Hussey, Arthur. 'Notes on the churches in the counties of Kent, Sussex, and Surrey, mentioned in Domesday book, and those of more recent date'. Publisher: London J.R. Smith,(1852).

Letters, Dr. Samantha. 'Kent', Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516 (2005).  URL: British History Online.

Page, William, 1861-1934, ed.. 'The Victoria history of the county of Kent'. Publisher: London: Constable (1908).  URL: British History Online

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Edward I, File 39', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 2: Edward I. Published:(1906), pp. 315-323.  URL: British History Online.

Sharp, J. E. E. S., ed.. 'Inquisitions Post Mortem, Henry III, File 45', Calendar of Inquisitions Post Mortem, Volume 1: Henry III. Published:(1904), pp. 296-302.  URL: British History Online.


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

Date The National Archives, Ruskin Avenue,
Kew, Richmond,
Surrey,
TW9 4DU
also available at:
Erith Local Studies & Archives, Central Library, High Street, Erith, BR1 1EX, tel. 020 8461 7170, Email: localstudies.library@Erith.gov.uk
LDS Family History Centre
(Find a centre near you)
and indexed online at:
New FamilySearch.org
6 June 1841 Currently under revision  
30 Mar 1851 Currently under revision  
30 Mar 1851 census name index & images Currently under revision  
7 Apr 1861 Currently under revision  
2 Apr 1871 Currently under revision  
3 Apr 1881 Currently under revision  
5 Apr 1891 Currently under revision  
31 Mar 1901 Currently under revision  
2 Apr 1911 Currently under revision  
2 Apr 1911 RG 78/139 - Census Enumerator's Summary Books online only http://www.1911census.co.uk and other subscription sites none
 

Church Records, Church of England

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Parish Register   Currently under revision  
Bishop's transcripts   Currently under revision  
CMB transcripts   Currently under revision  
Parish Registers, transcribed by Thomas Colyer-Fergusson   Currently under revision  
 

Church Records, Non-Conformist

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Particular Baptist Chapel, Nonconformist Return   Currently under revision  
Methodist Church Registers   Currently under revision  
 

Parish chest records

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Parish Council Minutes   Currently under revision  
Removal orders out of Erith   Currently under revision  
Settlement Examinations, Minute book   Currently under revision  
Overseers' Accounts   Currently under revision  
Return of Churchwardens, constables and defaulters     
Tithe Apportionment Files      
Poor Rate books   Currently under revision  
 

Workhouse and Poor Law Records

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Admission & Discharge books   This section currently under revision  
Guardians' Minutes      
Ledgers      
Births   Currently under revision  
Deaths   Currently under revision  
Religious creed registers   Currently under revision  
Apprentice Register      
Registers of lunatics      
Letters books      
Vaccination registers, Erith area 1899-1930 Currently under revision  
 

Land Records

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Land tax assessments 1780-1831 Currently under revision  
Land tax assessments 1875-1876 Currently under revision  
Land tax assessments 1889-1890 Currently under revision  
Rates and Duties - Houses, Windows, Lights   Currently under revision  
Manorial Court rolls   Currently under revision  
War Damage Files 1939-1962 Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, Kent, no.: Finding Aid at CKS-DRb/RW 123 None
 

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

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
Hearth tax   Currently under revision  
Victuallers Recognizances   Currently under revision  
Churchwarden's Presentments   Currently under revision  
Parish rate books   Currently under revision  
 

School Records

Record Type Dates Archive 1
(Addresses)
Corresponding LDS Family History Library film numbers
(Find a centre near you)
    Currently under revision  
       

Chronology

Coming Soon


Church Registers


Census


Parish Chest
Records

  • Settlement Certificates
  • Removal Orders
  • Bastardy Examinations
  • Parish-assisted Immigrants
  • Churchwarden's Accounts
  • Overseer's Accounts
  • Surveyor's Accounts
  • Workhouse Records
  • Pew Rents
  • Donors' Rolls
  • Vestry Minutes
  • Bishops' Visitations
  • Parish Magazines
  • Parish Histories

Directories


Total Population

1801   -   969
1811   -   1,119
1821   -   1,363
1831   -   1,533
1841   -   2,082
1851   -   2,231
1861   -   4,143
1871   -   8,289
1881   -   9,812
1891   -   13,414
1901   -   25,296
1911   -   27,750
1921   -   31,558
The civil parish of the same name at the 1921 census was coextensive with such parish (or place).
The population in 1841 includes 42 persons temporarily present engaged in pea-picking.


Erith Distance to

London 10.8 mi.
Canterbury 41.6 mi.
Ashford 37.9 mi.
Chatham 17.8 mi.
Cranbrook 30.5 mi.
Dartford 2.8 mi.
Deptford 8.7 mi.
Dover 55.0 mi.
Faversham 33.2 mi.
Folkestone 50.9 mi.
Gravesend 9.5 mi.
Greenwich 6.8 mi.
Hythe 48.9 mi.
Maidstone 21.2 mi.
Margate 53.0 mi.
Milton Regis 26.1 mi.
Queenborough 25.6 mi.
Ramsgate 55.2 mi.
Rochester 14.8 mi.
Sandwich 52.9 mi.
Sheerness 25.5 mi.
Tenterden 36.1 mi.
Tonbridge 20.0 mi.
Woolwich 4.5 mi.


Directories


Municipal & Public Records

  • Mayors
  • Town Clerks
  • Recorders
  • Chamberlains
  • M.P.s
  • Jurats, Aldermen and Common Councilmen
  • Electoral Register
  • Freeholders
  • Freemen Index
  • Freeman's Roll
  • Masters Index
  • Pubs, Taverns, Inns, Alehouses
  • Victuallers

Wills & Estate Records

  • AD index 1448-1857
  • CC index 1448-1857
  • PCC 1338-1858
  • PPR 1858-1925
  • Depositions

Court Records

  • Gaol Returns
  • Quarter Sessions
  • Transportations
  • Summons for Pavement Repairs
  • Protestation Rolls c1641-1643
  • Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy 1662
  • Oaths of Allegiance c1720s

Military Records


Land Records
& Maps

  • Parish Map
  • Feet of Fines
  • Victoria County History
  • Deeds, Mortgages, etc.
  • Rated Property Returns
  • Returns of owners of land, 1873
  • Manor Court Baron
  • Manor Tenancy Rolls
  • Manors, Castles & Holdings of Significance

Tax Lists


Other Records


Village Resources