Place:High Halstow, Kent, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the text in this section is copied from an article in Wikipedia

High Halstow is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It was, until 1998, administratively part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. The parish had a population of 1,781 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 1,807 at the 2011 census.

Originally known as Hagelstowe (in Textus Roffensis), Hagelsto or Agelstow, it was named from an Old English word denoting a high, holy place. The area has been occupied by Romans, Saxons and Normans.

The village lies on the junction of the ancient roads from Hoo and Cliffe to the Isle of Grain, now a crossroads to the north of the A228 road. One of the highest points on the Hoo peninsula, at 30 to 50 metres above sea level, the modern village consolidates into a single community the four hamlets of Clinch Street, Fenn Street, Sharnal Street and High Halstow Street.

High Halstow was a civil parish in Hoo Rural District from 1894 until 1934, in Strood Rural District from 1934 until 1974. It was part of the non-metropolitan Rochester upon Medway district 1974-1998, and the Medway unitary authority since 1998. There is also a Lower Halstow (redirected here). It was originally an ancient parish in the Shamwell Hundred of Kent.

A Vision of Britain through Time provides the following description of High Halstow from John Marius Wilson's Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales of 1870-72:

"HALSTOW (HIGH), a parish in Hoo district, Kent; 5 miles NE by E of Higham [railway] station, and 5½. N by E of Rochester. Post town, Hoo, under Rochester. Acres: 4,244; of which 1,055 are water. Real property: £1,772. Population: 363. Houses: 64. The property is divided among a few. Northwood hill commands an extensive view of the shore of the Thames. Part of the land is marsh, with reed beds; and The Mean is a tract of 262 acres, indefinitely divided between this parish and Hoo St. Mary. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value: £700: Patron, T. Briggs, Esq. The church has a brass of 1396, and is good. Charities, £25."

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article High Halstow.

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.