Ashford, Kent, England Genealogy

England

Kent

Kent Parishes

Ashford

Guide to Ashford, Kent ancestry, family history, and genealogy: parish register transcripts, census records, birth records, marriage records, and death records.

Ashford
Ashford St Mary Kent
Type	Ancient Parish
Civil Jurisdictions
County	Kent
Hundred	Chart and Longbridge
Poor Law Union	West Ashford
Registration District	West Ashford
Records Begin
Parish registers	1570
Bishop's Transcripts	1560
Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions
Rural Deanery	Canterbury
Diocese	Canterbury
Province	Canterbury
Probate Court	Court of the Archdeaconry of Canterbury
Archive
Kent Record Office

Parish History

ASHFORD (St. Mary), a market-town, parish, and the head of the union of West Ashford, in the hundred of Chart and Longbridge, lathe of Shepway, E division of Kent, 20 miles SE by E from Maidstone, and 54 ESE from London. There are places of worship for Particular Baptists, the Society of Friends, the Connexion of the Countess of Huntingdon and Wesleyans.

Ashford is a town and borough in Kent, see Ashford Wikipedia
Ashford St Mary the Virgin is an Ancient Parish for the market town of Ashford which included Alfred and Newton Ashford in the parish.
The church is mentioned in the Domesday survey and the current church on the site dates from 1250 with restoration and enlargement in subsequent centuries. The latest restoration underway in 2011 is to provide both a place of worship for the town and parish and a performance space to seat 350 for the town and surrounding community.
From this parish Ashford Christ Church was formed Christ Church Ashford Wikipedia to serve the growing population of the town.

The Centrepiece Church, Bank Street is part of the The South Kent Methodist Circuit Church Website other churches in the circuit include

Kennington United Reformed/ Methodist Church Ashford Church website

Cade Road United Reformed/Methodist Church South Ashford Church website

Resources

Find Neighboring Parishes

Use England Jurisdictions 1851 Map

• Type the name of the parish in the search bar
• Click on the location pin on the map
• Choose Options from the pop up box
• Click "List Contiguous Parishes" to find the neighboring parishes
  

Cemeteries

• 1859-1913 Register of Burials in the Burial Ground of Ashford in the County of Kent, 1859-1913(*) at FamilySearch Catalog - images

Civil Registration

Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day.

• See England Civil Registration for online resources and information.
  
  
  

Registration Districts

• 1837-1941 West Ashford Registration District
  
• 1941-1974 Ashford Registration District
  

Church Records

The Church of England (Anglican) became the official state religion in 1534, with the reigning monarch as its Supreme Governor.
Non-Conformist refers to all other religious denominations that are not the official state religion.

Church of England

Due to the increasing access of online records:

• Individual parish coverage for databases in this table are inconsistent and should be verified
  
• Dates in the following table are approximate
  

Hover over the collection's title for more information

Ashford Online Parish Records
Collections	Baptisms		Marriages		Burials
	Indexes and images	Indexes only	Indexes and images	Indexes only	Indexes and images	Indexes only
FamilySearch Collections-Kent	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
Parish Registers-Kent	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
Bishop's Transcripts - FamilySearch Catalog	1700s-1800s	-	1700s-1800s	-	1700s-1800s	-
FreeREG	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s
Findmypast-Kent ($)	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
Findmypast Banns-Kent ($)	-	-	1500s-1900s	-	-	-
Ancestry-Church of England BMD-Kent ($)	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s	-
Ancestry-England & Wales, Birth, Christening, Marriage and Death Indexes ($)	-	1500s-1900s 1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s 1500s-1900s	-	1500s-1900s
Databases with Known Incomplete Parish Coverage
Boyd's Marriage Indexes-FMP (Free)	-	-	-	1500s-1800s	-	-
National Burial Index-FMP (Free)	-	-	-	-	-	1800s-1900s

Other Websites
These databases have incomplete parish coverage.

• Joiner Marriage Index - Kent ($)
• Online Genealogical Index - Links to online genealogical records
• The Genealogist Parish Registers - Kent ($)
• UK Websites for Parish Records - Links to online genealogical records
  

Nonconformist Records

"Nonconformist" is a term referring to religious denominations other than an established or state church. In England, the state church is the Church of England.

• 1717 England & Wales, Roman Catholics, 1717 at Findmypast - index & images ($); coverage may vary
  
• England Roman Catholic Parish Marriages at Findmypast — index & images ($); coverage may vary

Census Records

Census records from 1841 to 1921 are available online. See England Census for more resources.

Poor Law Unions

• West Ashford Poor Law Union, Kent
  

Probate Records

Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Kent Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

• England, Kent, Wills and Probate - FamilySearch Historical Records
  

Maps and Gazetteers

Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.

• England Jurisdictions 1851
  
• Vision of Britain
  

Websites

• Ashford Christ Church Kent Churches
  
• Ashford St Mary A Church Near You
  
• Ashford St Mary British History Online
  
• Ashford St Mary Kent Churches
  
• Christ Church South Ashford British Listed Buildings
  
• Kent Online Parish Clerks