Westerham

Westerham is, ecclesiastically, in the diocese of Canterbury, in the peculiar of Shoreham, deanery of Shoreham.  The church is named St. Mary the Virgin with original parish registers commencing 1559.  The parish is, today, in the Diocese of Rochester, in the deanery of Sevenoaks.

Westerham is a small town, a parish, and a hundred, in the Sevenoaks district of Kent.  The town stands on a gentle declivity, 4-1/4 miles north of Edenbridge railroad station, and 5-1/2 west of Sevenoaks; was the birth place of the martyr Frith, Bishop Hoadley, and General Wolfe; is a pleasant place; and has a post office with money order and savings bank under Edenbridge, a hotel, a public hall and corn market built in 1866, a literary institution and reading room. Landslips occurred in green sand hills here in 1596 and 1756.  Acres, 5,676.  Real property in 1860, £11,303.  Population in 1861, 2,196. Houses, 431.

The manor was given by Edward I., to Westminster abbey; passed to the Greshams and the Wardes; and, with Squerryes Court, belongs now to Vice-Admiral C. Warde. Dunsdale is the seat of J. Kitchin, Esq..

It has a fine large later English church. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £450, with a habitable glebe house. Patron, J. Board, Esq.. The perpetual curacy of Crockham is a separate benefice and is named Holy Trinity, Crockham Hill, and dates from 1842.

There is an Independent or Congregational chapel built during 1839, a national school, and charities of £30. A weekly market is held on Wednesday and a fair on 3 May.

The parish includes Crockham hamlet and Crockham Hill, a chapelry in Westerham parish, Kent; at the boundary with Surrey, 2 miles north of Edenbridge railroad station, and 2-1/4 south of Westerham. The chapelry was constituted in 1842. Post town, Edenbridge. Rated property in 1860, £1,930. Population in 1861, 542. Houses, 108. The property is subdivided. A hill which gives name to the chapelry commands an extensive panoramic view. The living was a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury in 1870. Value, £104, with a habitable glebe house. Patron, Mrs. W. St. John Mildmay. The church is good.

The hundred consists of Westerham and Edenbridge parishes.

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

Westerham 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 Westerham: 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