Bridge, Kent
Historical Description
Bridge, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on Watling Street and on the Little Stour river, with a station on the S.E.R., 66 miles from London, 3 miles SE of Canterbury, under which it has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The parish comprises 1170 acres; population of the civil parish, 850; of the ecclesiastical with Patrixbourne, 1114. The manor belonged to an ancient abbey on the ground now occupied by the church, and passed to the Dutch family of the Braeams. Bridge-Hill House was the seat and death-place of Baron de Montesquieu, grandson of the famous president. The living is a vicarage annexed to the vicarage of Patrixbourne in the diocese of Canterbury. The church, which was rebuilt in 1859, contains some well-preserved remains of Norman architecture, a remarkable monumental effigy supposed to be of a steward of the ancient abbey, and some singular carvings representing the creation and fall of man. There is a spacious room called the " Reading Room" which is the property of the Marquis Conyngham, and is lent by him to the vicar and churchwardens for parochial purposes. The artist Jansen resided much in Bridge, and painted here his portrait of the lady popularly called the " Star in the East."
Administration
The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.
Ancient County | Kent | |
Ecclesiastical parish | Bridge St. Peter | |
Hundred | Bridge and Petham | |
Lathe | St. Augustine | |
Poor Law union | Bridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register dates from the year 1565.
Findmypast have the following online for Bridge, St Peter: baptisms 1579-1912, marriages 1579-1928, burials 1579-1952
Churches
Church of England
St. Peter (parish church)
The church of St. Peter is of flint, in the Norman style, with some additions of the Early English period, and has a tower, with spire, containing a clock and 4 bells: the windows are stained: within a recess is a recumbent effigy of a man in robes, in low relief: the church was repaired and partly rebuilt about 1860, and affords 350 sittings.
Civil Registration
For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Bridge from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bridge (St. Peter))
Maps
Online maps of Bridge are available from a number of sites:
- Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- Google Streetview.
- National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
- OpenStreetMap.
- old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
- Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
- A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)
Newspapers and Periodicals
The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:
- Kent & Sussex Courier
- Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
- Dover Express
- Kentish Gazette
- Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
- Kentish Chronicle
- Maidstone Telegraph
Visitations Heraldic
The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.