Place:Shepherdswell with Coldred, Kent, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

Shepherdswell with Coldred was a civil parish formed in 1963 from the two adjacent villages of Shepherdswell (also known as Sibertswold) and Coldred. The two villages have been redirected here.

Between Wikipedia and A Vision of Britain through Time there are four different spellings for Shepherdswell, but neither source provides any explanation. Sibertswold appears to have been the name of the parish until 1963 or shortly before.

Originally both Coldred and Shepherdswell were ancient parishes in the Bewsborough Hundred. Between 1894 and 1963 they were both part of the Dover Rural District. Shepherdswell with Coldred continued to be part of the same rural district. Since 1974 the area is covered by the non-metropolitan Thanet District.

Coldred

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

"COLDRED, a parish in Dover district, Kent; near the Chatham and Dover railway, 1 mile ESE of Shepherdswell [railway] station, and 5 NNW of Dover. Post town, Dover. Acres: 1,532. Real property: £2,228. Population: 134. Houses: 28. Waldershare Park, the seat of the Earl of Guildford, is in the vicinity of the church. Ceolred, king of Mercia, is said to have fought a battle here, in 715, with Ina. A Roman entrenchment, enclosing about 2 acres of land, encircles the church; and was found, at the cutting of a road through it, to have a well about 300 feet deep. The living is a vicarage, annexed to the vicarage of Sibbertswold, in the diocese of Canterbury. The church has recently been repaired, but beyond the bell turret has no features of architectural interest."

Shepherdswell

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

"SIBBERTSWOLD, Shebbertswould, or Shepherdswell, a parish, with a village, in Dover district, Kent; on the London, Chatham, and Dover railway, 6 miles NW by N of Dover. It has a [railway] station with telegraph, and a post-office under Dover, both of the name of Shepherdswell. Acres: 1,836. Real property: £2,385. Population: 411. Houses: 76. The property is divided among a few. The railway here traverses a tunnel 1½ mile long. There are Roman entrenchments in the neighbourhood. The living is a vicarage, united with Coldred, in the diocese of Canterbury. Value: £255. Patron: the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is a pleasing structure; and there is a national school."

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.