Place:Speldhurst, Kent, England

Watchers
NameSpeldhurst
Alt namesGroombridgesource: from redirect
Langtonsource: settlement in parish
Langton Greensource: name variation of above
Lower Greensource: settlement in parish
Old Groombridgesource: settlement in parish
Rusthallsource: settlement in parish
TypeParish (ancient), Civil parish
Coordinates51.152°N 0.222°E
Located inKent, England
See alsoCodsheath Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was part located
Somerden Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was part located
Washlingstone Hundred, Kent, Englandancient county division in which it was part located
Tonbridge Rural, Kent, Englandrural district of which it was a part 1894-1974
Tunbridge Wells District, Kent, Englanddistrict municipality into which the parish was transferred in 1974
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog
source: Family History Library Catalog


the text in this section is based on an article in Wikipedia

Speldhurst is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England. The parish is to the west of Tunbridge Wells: the village is 3 miles (5 km) west of the town. The parish had a population of 4,978 in the UK census of 2011.

Originally Speldhurst was an ancient parish split between the hundreds of Codsheath, Somerden and Washlingstone. From 1894 until 1974 it was part of the Tonbridge Rural District.

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

"SPELDHURST, a village and a parish in Tunbridge [registration] district, Kent. The village stands 2½ miles WNW of Tunbridge-Wells [railway] station. The parish includes Langton and Lower Green hamlets, Rusthall manor, and part of Tunbridge-Wells town. Post town, Tunbridge-Wells. Acres: 3,947. Real property: £24,883. Population in 1851: 2,839; in 1861: 3,598. Houses, 665. The property is much subdivided. The manor belongs to Powell, Esq. There are several mansions and neat villas. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury. Value: £303. Patron: the Rev. J. J. Saint. The church is modern. The [perpetual] curacies of Rusthall and Groombridge are separate benefices. There are national schools, and charities £23."

At some time after Wilson prepared his Gazetteer Groombridge was split into Old Groombridge which remained in Spelhurst and New Groombridge which was transferred across the county border to Withyham in Sussex.

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 Speldhurst. 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.