Place:Stone cum Ebony, Kent, England

source: Family History Library Catalog

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Stone cum Ebony is a large mostly rural and marshland civil parish centred 7 miles (11 km) SSW of Ashford in southeast Kent, England. It includes the village of Stone-in-Oxney and tiny community of Ebony (both redirected here). The civil parish population was 460 in the UK census of 2011.

The parish was formed in 1894 from the former civil parishes of Stone in Oxney and part of the small parish of Ebony to its northwest. Stone cum Ebony is southeast of Tenterden and stands mostly slightly elevated on the eastern side of the Isle of Oxney. The far north of the parish is marked by a small tributary of the Rother. The built-up community is one long street lined with houses and other buildings.

Being almost flat and rectangular in area, the current bounds of the parish are those reflecting the centuries-old church parish boundaries: the southeast boundary is the Royal Military Canal which helps to drain what was otherwise an almost impenetrable marsh. The west of the parish reaches to include about a quarter of Wittersham village centre.

Between 1894 and 1974 it was part of the Tenterden Rural District. Since 1974 the area is covered by the non-metropolitan Ashford District.

Stone-in-Oxney

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Stone in Oxney is a village south of Ashford near Appledore. Originally it was an ancient parish in the Oxney Hundred.

The village is 11 miles (18 km) southeast of Tenterden, and stands in a position on the eastern side of the Isle of Oxney. The stone that gives the village its name is preserved in the village church, and is of Roman origin. Often thought to be an altar of Mithras, it in fact depicts Apis.

Ebony

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Ebony is a hamlet south of Ashford on the southern edge of Tenterden. Ebony was formerly an island surrounded by marsh and the tidal waters of the river Rother. At the top of the most prominent part of the high ground, known as Chapel Bank, is the churchyard of the original Ebony Church, St Mary the Virgin. After lightning and fire, the remains of the church, built of local ragstone, were moved by the Victorians in 1858 to the present location at nearby Reading Street, and restored. It has been suggested that references to King Alfred's base at 'Ebonia' (Evania) in the Annals of Roger de Hoveden may refer to the strategically-situated Ebony in the marshlands of the South Coast, rather than to the Isle of Man or Hebrides. The fact that the church at Ebony was of Saxon foundation has been cited in support for this hypothesis; however there is no evidence for a 9th century date and the earliest reference is from 1070.

The civil parish of Ebony was abolished in 1894 and split between Tenterden and the newly-formed parish of Stone cum Ebony. Originally it was a chapelry in the ancient parish of Appledore and part of the Oxney Hundred.

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.