Place:Swale District, Kent, England

Watchers
NameSwale District
TypeDistrict municipality
Coordinates51.34°N 0.73°E
Located inKent, England     (1974 - )
See alsoFaversham, Kent, Englandmunicipal borough which was transferred into the district in 1974
Queenborough in Sheppey, Kent, Englandmunicipal borough which was transferred into the district in 1974
Sittingbourne and Milton, Kent, Englandmunicipal borough which was transferred into the district in 1974
Swale Rural, Kent, Englandrural district which was transferred into the district in 1974

Type of Government: non-metropolitan district
Population in 2011 (rounded): 136,300

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England and is bounded by Medway unitary authority to the west, the Canterbury District to the east, the Ashford to the south and the Maidstone District to the southwest. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The district is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the district.

The Roman Watling Street passed through the area, as witness the straightness of the A2 main road, now by-passed by the M2 motorway. Apart from the northern coast of the Isle of Sheppey, and the town of Sittingbourne, it is a mainly rural borough, containing a high proportion of the UK's apple, pear, cherry and plum orchards (the North Kent Fruit Belt), as well as many of its remaining hop gardens.

The district was formed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, from the Borough of Faversham; the Borough of Queenborough in Sheppey, which covered the whole of Sheppey; the Sittingbourne and Milton Urban District; and Swale Rural District.

There are four towns in the borough: Sittingbourne and Faversham on the mainland, and Sheerness and Queenborough on Sheppey.

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.