Speldhurst, Kent
Historical Description
Speldhurst, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands 3 miles WNW of Tunbridge Wells stations on the L.B. & S.C.R. and S.E.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Tunbridge Wells. The parish includes Langton and Lower Green hamlets, Rusthall manor, and part of Tunbridge Wells town. Acreage, 3990; population of the civil parish, 5591; of the ecclesiastical, 1323. There is a parish council of eleven members for that part of the parish not included in the borough of Tunbridge Wells. There are several mansions and neat villas. The living is a rectory, with Groombridge annexed, in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £200 with residence. The church was entirely rebuilt in 1871, and is a stone edifice in the Early English style.
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 | Speldhurst St. Mary | |
Hundred | Somerden | |
Lathe | Sutton-at-Hone | |
Poor Law union | Tonbridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
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 Speldhurst from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Speldhurst (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Speldhurst 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.