Place:Little and Lesnes Hundred, Kent, England

Watchers
NameLittle and Lesnes Hundred
Alt namesLessness (hundred)source: name variation
Little and Lesnes (hundred)source: name variation
TypeHundred
Coordinates51.486°N 0.111°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoSutton at Hone Lathe, Kent, Englandlathe (administrative division) of which the hundred was a part
the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Little and Lesnes was a hundred, a historical land division, in the county of Kent, England. It occupied the northern part of the Lathe of Sutton at Hone, within in the west division of Kent. Little and Lesnes was the northern most hundred in the whole county. The hundred existed since ancient times, before the Domesday Book of 1086, until it was made obsolete with the creation of new districts at the end of the nineteenth century.

Today the area that was the Hundred of Little and Lesnes is suburban London, covering the northeast corner of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and the northwest corner of the London Borough of Bexley, with the River Thames to the north, and Watling Street to the south; and roughly centred on the area of Abbey Wood. Little and Lesnes Hundred was, approximately, 4 miles (6.5 km) across north to south, and about 7 miles (11.25 km) wide east to west.

Parishes

ParishDescriptionGreater London Borough (1965- )
Crayford parish (ancient), civil parishLondon Borough of Bexley
East Wickham chapelry, civil parishLondon Borough of Bexley
Erith parish (ancient), civil parishLondon Borough of Bexley
Plumstead vestry, parish (ancient), civil parishRoyal Borough of Greenwich

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.