Place:Rainham, Kent, England

Watchers
NameRainham
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.363°N 0.608°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoMilton Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was located
Milton Rural, Kent, Englandrural district in which it was located 1894-1928
Gillingham, Kent, Englandmunicipal borough of which it became a part in 1928
Medway, Kent, Englandunitary authority which has covered the area since 1974
source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
source: Family History Library Catalog
the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

The town of Rainham is a part of the Medway Towns conurbation, under the unitary authority of Medway, in southeast England, and part of the ceremonial county of Kent. Historically, Rainham was a separate village until, in 1928, it was added to the Municipal Borough of Gillingham, which had itself been created in 1903. It became part of the Medway authority when Gillingham was incorporated with the other towns to form Medway Unitary Authority in 1998.

Rainham is located on the dip slope of the North Downs where it descends to the River Medway; its maximum height is about 125m above sea level. There are three roads crossing the town. The M2 motorway runs along its southern edge, two miles (6 km) from the town centre. The main road through the town, the A2, follows the ancient Watling Street, the Roman road between London and Canterbury. The most northerly road runs close to the southern bank of the river. The Chatham Main Line has a railway station here and National Cycle Route 1 runs through the town. London is approximately 39 miles (62.4 km) to the west.

end of Wikipedia contribution

Rainham was originally an ancient parish in the Milton Hundred. Between 1894 and 1928 it was part of the Milton Rural District. In 1928, as described above, joined the Municipal Borough of Gillingham and is now part of the unitary authority of Medway.

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 Rainham, Medway. 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.