Place:Faversham, Kent, England

Watchers
NameFaversham
Alt namesFavreshantsource: Canby, Historic Places (1984) I, 290; Domesday Book (1985) p 147
Fefreshamsource: Canby, Historic Places (1984) I, 290
Fevershamsource: Wikipedia
Faversham Withinsource: a separate parish until 1935
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish, Borough (municipal)
Coordinates51.333°N 0.883°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoFaversham Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Swale District, Kent, Englanddistrict municipality into which it was absorbed in 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog

Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale district of Kent, England. The town is 48 miles from London and 10 miles from Canterbury and lies next to Faversham Creek. It is close to the Roman Watling Street, now part of the A2. The name is of Latin via Old English origin, meaning "the metal-worker's village".

There has been a settlement at Faversham since pre-Roman times, next to the ancient seaport on Faversham Creek, and archaeological evidence has shown a Roman theatre was based in the town. It was inhabited by the Saxons and mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Favreshant. The town was favoured by King Stephen who established Faversham Abbey, which survived until the Dissolution of the Monasteries in 1538. Subsequently, the town became established as a centre for brewing, with the Shepherd Neame Brewery, founded in 1698, remaining a significant major employer. The town was also the centre of the explosives industry between the 17th and early 20th century.

Faversham was a municipal borough until it was absorbed into Swale District in 1974. In addition to Faversham civil parish, it contained the following civil parishes:

At the 2011 UK census, Faversham had a population of 19,316, an increase of 1,606 from the 2001 census.

History

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Faversham#History.

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 Faversham. 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.