Place:Codsheath Hundred, Kent, England

the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Codsheath was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the eastern part of the Lathe of Sutton at Hone, within in the west division of Kent. Codsheath was also recorded as "Codsede" in ancient records. Today the area that was the Codsheath Hundred is part of the Sevenoaks District of Kent that includes the town of Sevenoaks and the surrounding area. The Hundred of Codsheath was included in the Domesday Book of 1086, that records it as having 203 houses, 44 in Sundridge and 159 in Otford. The River Darent flowed through the Codsheath Hundred, generally in a northeast direction. Several watermills were constructed on the river within the hundred, in the villages of Sundridge, Otford, Shoreham and Chevening.

In the 1831 census, Codsheath was recorded as having an area of 37,720 acres (153 km2) and a population of 12,709, of which 6,394 were female, 6,315 were male, and 3,239 were males aged 20 and over. The same census recorded the population as belonging to 2,437 families living in 2,211 houses, and that 1,295 of these families worked in agriculture, and 649 families worked in trade, manufacturing, or handicraft.

Codsheath, like the other hundreds in Kent, became gradually less significant over time, and although never formally abolished, it was obsolete by 1894 with the creation of new districts. In 1894 the area of the Codsheath Hundred became the Sevenoaks Urban District and part of Sevenoaks Rural District, which in turn merged with each other in 1974 to become the Sevenoaks District which remains up to present day.

Parishes

Research tips

• Kent County Council Archive, Local Studies and Museums Service. James Whatman Way, Maidstone, Kent ME14 1LQ. This incorporates the Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone and the East Kent Archives Centre near Dover.
• Canterbury Cathedral Archives see the Archives web pages on the Canterbury Catherdral site.
• For information on the area around the Medway Towns, have a look at Medway Council's CityArk site.
• Ordnance Survey Maps of England and Wales - Revised: Kent illustrates the parish boundaries of Kent when rural districts were still in existence and before Greater London came into being. The map publication year is 1931. An earlier map of 1900 may also be useful. The maps blow up to show all the parishes and many of the small villages and hamlets. Maps in this series are now downloadable for personal use.
• Census records for Kent are available on FamilySearch, Ancestry and FindMyPast. The first site is free; the other two are pay sites but have access to microfilmed images. Steve Archer produced a very useful round-up of the available sources, but this information may not be up to date.
• Registration Districts in Kent for the period 1837 to the present. By drilling down through the links you can follow any parish through the registration districts to which it was attached.
• England, Kent, Parish Registers, 1538-1911 The full database from Kent Archives Office, Maidstone, has been available online from FamilySearch since June 2016.
• Kent had five family history societies (now only four):

• Kent FHS (serves the whole county)
• Folkestone & District FHS (serves the southeast corner)
• North West Kent FHS (serves the western area of present-day Kent)
• Tunbridge Wells FHS (ceased operation 31 Dec 2016; see North West Kent)
• Woolwich & District FHS (serves eastern sections of Greater London which were in Kent until 1966)

• Volume 2 of the Victoria County History of Kent (published 1926) is available online through the auspices of British History Online. It includes accounts of the early history of Canterbury and Rochester cathedrals, and of several sites now within the conurbation of London.
• Volume 3 of the Victoria County History of Kent (published 1932) This includes the text of, and the index to, the Kent Domesday survey. It has been provided by the Kent Archaeological Society.
• In place of the other volumes of the Victoria County History, British History Online has transcriptions of the numerous volumes of The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent by Edward Hasted (originally published 1797)
• English Jurisdictions 1851, a parish finding aid provided by FamilySearch, is particularly helpful in locating parishes in large ancient towns and cities like Canterbury.
• Kent Probate Records Numerous links provided by Maureen Rawson
• GENUKI lists other possible sources, however, it does not serve Kent so well as it does some other counties.