Place:Greenhithe, Kent, England

source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names

source: Family History Library Catalog

the following text is based on an article in Wikipedia

Greenhithe is a village in the Dartford Borough of Kent. It is located east of Dartford. At the 2011 Census the village is located in the modern civil parish of Swanscombe and Greenhithe which had an estimated population of 4.700 in 2005.

In the past, Greenhithe's waterfront on the estuary of the River Thames was used to build wharves for transshipping corn, wood and other commodities; its largest cargoes were of chalk and lime. This led in turn to the development of the cement industry at nearby Swanscombe.

In terms of its rectory revenues and manors, until the 20th century, the social history of Greenhithe is bound up with that of its ecclesiastical parish: Swanscombe.

Within the parish of Swanscombe, Greenhithe was located in the hundred of Axstane Dartford and Wilmington and from 1894 until 1924 in the Dartford Rural District. In 1924 Swanscombe became an urban district. Since 1974 the parish has been part of the Dartford District (or Borough) under the name Swanscombe and Greenhithe.

For more information, see the EN Wikipedia article Greenhithe.

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

"GREENHITHE, a hamlet in Swanscombe parish, and a chapelry in Swanscombe and Stone-near-Dartford parishes, Kent. The hamlet lies on the river Thames, and on the North Kent railway, 3 miles E by N of Dartford; and has a station with telegraph on the railway, a postoffice under Dartford, and a good pier for passenger traffic by the steamers on the river.

"A number of villa residences are in it, and have recently been increased; and a handsome row of them, semi-detached and in the Italian style, forms a picturesque terrace, and commands a charming view. Ingress House--on an eminence originally called Ince Grice, and once belonging to the Dartford nuns--is an elegant mansion, in the Tudor style; was built, by the late Alderman Harmer, with materials from Old London bridge; passed into the possession of S. Umfreville, Esq.; and stands amid tastefully disposed grounds. Cliff House, the residence of the Rev. Fuller Russell, contains a choice collecting of Italian and German pictures of the early Christian school. Market gardening, the making of Roman cement, and the working of chalk and lime are carried on. The chalk pits are very extensive; and some of them have depths of from 100 to 150 feet. The Erebus and Terror, under Sir John Franklin and Captain Crozier, sailed on their well known fatal expedition, in 1845, from Greenhithe.

"The chapelry was constituted in 1856. Population: 1,039. Houses: 207. Population of the Swanscombe portion: 850. Houses: 176. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester. Value: £250. Patron: Sydney-Sussex College, Cambridge. The church was built in 1856, and is in the decorated English style. There are chapels for Independents and Wesleyans, and an infant 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.