Sevenoaks

Sevenoaks is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the archdeaconry of Maidstone, and in the deanery of Shoreham.  The church is named St. Nicholas with registers commencing 1559.  Parish registers for Riverhead commence 1864.

Sevenoaks, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Kent.  The town stands on high ground, on the Sevenoaks, Maidstone, and Tunbridge railway, amid fine and varied scenery, 6 miles northwest-by-north of Tunbridge;  took its name from seven oaks, now represented by other trees;  dates from considerably ancient times;  belonged, for ages to the archbishops of Canterbury;  was exchanged by Cranmer to Henry VIII., for other property;  passed afterwards to the Sackvilles of Knole;  is near the place where Jack Cade, in 1450, defeated and slew Sir H. Stafford;  was a seat of the Kent assizes in the time of Elizabeth;  is now a seat of petty sessions and county courts, and a polling place;  serves also as a tourists’ centre for very interesting excursions;  enjoys much amenity from the adjacency of the noble mansion of Knole, and from the neighbourhood of Riverhill House, Kippington, Beechmount, Bellevue, Ashgrove, Montreal House, the Wilderness, and other fine residences;  includes an open space, called the Vine, where famous cricket matches are played;  underwent much increase in several years prior to 1868, insomuch that a new town was then springing up;  and has a head post office with a savings banks and a money order office, two rail stations with telegraph, a banking office, several good inns, a county court house, a police station, two churches, three dissenting chapels, a literary and scientific institution, a free grammar school, an endowed national school, a village hospital erected in 1867, two suites of alms houses, and considerable other charities.

The parish church figures conspicuously on an eminence;  is mainly later English, with a tower;  and contains the grave of Farnaby, a native and eminent scholar of the time of Charles I., a monument of Lambarde the antiquary, whose family was seated at Sevenoaks House, and monuments of the Amhersts, the Bosvilles, the Dorsets, the Fermoys and others.

St. John’s church was built in 1858 and is a neat edifice.

The Independent chapel was built in 1866 at a cost of £3,200;  and is in the early decorated English style, with tower and spire.  The Wesleyan chapel was built in 1853.

The grammar school was founded in 1432, by Sir W. Sevenoake or Sennocke, originally a poor orphan of the parish;  adjoins an hospital, by the same founder, for decayed elderly trades people;  was rebuilt in 1727;  has, jointly with the hospital, an endowed income of £772 a year;  and has also five scholarships of £30 and £35 a year, a Cambridge and Oxford.  The endowed national school was founded by Lady Boswell, in the time of Charles I.;  and has about £430 a year from endowment.

A weekly market is held on Saturday;  a stock market on the last Tuesday of every month; and a fair, on 12 and 13 October.

Population of the town in 1861, 3,171.  Houses, 436.

The parish contains also the liberties of Riverhead and Weald.  Acres, 6,000.  Real property in 1860, £22,867;  of which £194 are in gas works.  Population in 1851, 4,878;  in 1861, 4,695.  Houses, 978.

The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury.  Value, £1,117 with a habitable glebe house.  Patrons, the Trustees of the late Rev. T. Curteis.  The chapelries of Riverhead and Weald are separate benefices.

The sub-district contains also the parishes of Sundridge, Brasted and Westerham.  Acres, 20,173.  Population in 1861, 9,568.  Houses, 1,872.

The district comprehends also the sub-districts of Shoreham and Penshurst and comprises 67,488 acres.  Poor rates in 1863, £11,993.  Population in 1851, 22,095;  in 1861, 22,039.  Houses, 4,300.  Marriages in 1863, 107;  births, 741 of which 44 were illegitimate;  deaths, 436 of which 142 were at ages under 5 years and 20 at ages above 85.  Marriages in the ten years 1851 to 1860, 1,046;  births, 6,773;  deaths, 3,931.

The places of worship in 1851 were 21 of the Church of England, with 6,987 sittings;  5 of Independents with 910 sittings;  7 of Baptists, with 1,433 sittings;  13 of Wesleyans, with 1,311 sittings and 3 of Wesleyan Reformers with 190 sittings.  The schools were 30 public day schools, with 2,534 scholars;  44 private day schools with 791 scholars, 30 Sunday schools, with 2,237 scholars;  and 5 evening schools for adults with 79 scholars.

The workhouse is in Sundridge.

Riverhead, a one-time village and now part of the built-up area to the north of the town of Sevenoaks, is also a civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England.  The parish has a population of about 2,500.  Riverhead contains two schools, Amherst Primary School and Riverhead Infants' School.  The parish church is dedicated to St Mary the Virgin; its architect was Decimus Burton.

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

Sevenoaks 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 Sevenoaks: 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

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