Place:Mersham, Kent, England

Watchers
NameMersham
Alt namesMersehamsource: Domesday Book (1985) p 148
Cheesman's Greensource: settlement in parish
Finberrysource: settlement in parish
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.117°N 0.933°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoBircholt Barony and Franchise, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Chart and Longbridge Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was located
East Ashford Rural, Kent, Englandrural district of which it was a part 1894-1974
Ashford District, Kent, Englanddistrict municipality to which the parish was transferred in 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog


the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Mersham is a mostly agricultural large village and civil parish, three miles east of Willesborough and Ashford in Kent, England. The population of the civil parish includes the area of Cheesman's Green now known as Finberry.

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

"MERSHAM, a village and a parish in East-Ashford [registration] district, Kent. The village stands adjacent to the Tunbridge and Dover railway, 1½ mile NNW of Smeeth [railway] station, and 3½ SE of Ashford; is a pleasant place; and has a post office under Ashford and a fair on WhitFriday. The parish comprises 2,675 acres. Real property: £5,154. Population: 752. Houses: 143. The property is much subdivided. Mersham Hatch is the seat of Sir N. J. Knatchbull, Bart.; has belonged to his family since the time of Henry VIII.; and is a red brick mansion, rebuilt in the last century. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value: £632. Patron: Oriel College, Oxford. The church is ancient but good; comprises nave, aisles, and two chancels; and contains monuments of the Hatch family. There are an endowed school with £10 a year, and charities £61."

Mersham was originally an ancient parish in the Bircholt Barony and Franchise and also the Chart and Longbridge Hundred. Between 1894 and 1974 it was part of the East Ashford Rural District. Since 1974 the area is covered by the non-metropolitan Borough of Ashford.

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 Mersham. 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.