Frindsbury, Kent
Historical Description
Frindsbury, a village and a parish in Kent. The village is suburban to Strood, stands on the Medway Canal, adjacent to the river Medway and to Strood station on the S.E.R., 1 mile N of Rochester, and was known to the Saxons as Esling-ham. It has a post and money order office under Rochester; telegraph office, Rochester. Acreage of the civil parish, 3083; population, 5060; of the ecclesiastical, 2338. The manor was given in the 8th century by King Offa to the see of Rochester. Upnor Castle here was erected by Queen Elizabeth to defend the passage of the Medway; beat off the Dutch in 1677 in their attempt to go up the river; comprises an oblong centre building and two round towers at the end, all encompassed by a moat; was for some time used as a powder magazine, and has been converted into barracks. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Rochester; gross value, £350. Patron, the Bishop of Rochester. The church stands, on an eminence with a fine view; dates from the latter part of the llth century, and has a tower with octagonal spire. It was well restored in 1884. There is a Wesleyan chapel in St Mary's Strood, but in the civil parish of Frinds-bury, in which also are the church and vicarage house of St Mary, Strood.
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 | Frindsbury All Saints | |
Hundred | Shamwell | |
Lathe | Aylesford | |
Poor Law union | North Aylesford |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
Findmypast have the following online for Frindsbury, All Saints: baptisms 1668-1915, marriages 1604-1935, burials 1669-1974
Directories & Gazetteers
We have transcribed the entry for Frindsbury from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Frindsbury (All Saints))
Maps
Online maps of Frindsbury 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.