Place:Davington, Kent, England

Watchers
NameDavington
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.319°N 0.884°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoFaversham Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Faversham Rural, Kent, Englandrural district in which it was situated 1894-1935
Faversham, Kent, Englandparish into which it was part absorbed in 1935
Luddenham, Kent, Englandparish into which it was part absorbed in 1935
Oare, Kent, Englandparish into which it was part absorbed in 1935
Swale District, Kent, Englanddistrict municipality covering the area since 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England. It forms the western section of the town, including Bysing Wood and Bysing Wood fishing lakes. But the ward of Davington also encompasses Luddenham and Oare and other nearby rural areas. Before the second World War, the parish was fairly rural and was essentially a cluster of houses around the parish church and school, as well as a few widely distributed farm houses and cottages around. The post-war residential development connected the parish to the centre of Faversham.

The population of Davington parish is approaching 6,000. Davington Priory is a local government ward within the Faversham Town Council and Swale Borough Council areas. Until the civic boundary changes were brought into effect in 2004, the electoral ward had broadly mirrored the ecclesiastical parish of Davington.

Davington church is a prominent and much-loved local feature, which stands on top of a ridge above Stonebridge Pond. The Norman Priory Church is dedicated to St. Mary Magdalene and St. Lawrence and is the oldest existing building in the Faversham area. Most of its building construction dates from the second half of the twelfth century. Beside it, is a Priory house. This is largely the remains of Davington Priory, which was founded in 1153 for a prioress and her 26 Benedictine nuns.

Davington was originally an ancient parish in the Faversham Hundred. Between 1894 and 1935 it was part of the Faversham Rural District. In 1935 Faversham Rural District was abolished as was the parish of Davington. Davington was split between the parishes of Faversham, Luddenham and Oare. Since 1974 the area is covered by the non-metropolitan Swale District and the civil parish structure was revised in 2004 so that the modern ward includes Luddenham and Oare.

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):
  • 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.
This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Davington. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with WeRelate, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.