Ash next Sandwich, Kent

Historical Description

Ash-next-Sandwich, so called to distinguish it from Ash near Sevenoaks, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on a rising-ground, by the side of Wingham brook, a tributary of the Stour, 3 miles W of Sandwich station on the S.E.R. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. The parish comprises 7021 acres; population, 2242. Richborough Castle, the Roman Rutupise, is on the E border, about a mile N of Sandwich. [See RICHBOROUGH.] One of the earliest settlements of the Saxons was in the parish, and many relics of the earliest Saxon times have been found. Hops are grown, and pale ale is extensively brewed. There are two livings, St Nicholas and Trinity, and both are vicarages in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £307 and £250. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. St Nicholas Church is cruciform, Early English, and very fine; is surmounted by a spired central tower, which serves as a landmark; has undergone some good recent restorations, and contains an altar-tomb, two tombs with effigies of crusaders, and several brasses, one to the daughter of Sir John Oldcastle (Lord Cobham), the Lollard martyr. A small iron church in connection with the parish church was erected in 1888. The Church of Trinity stands at Westmarsh, 2 miles distant, and there is a neat Congregational chapel.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

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	Ash-near-Sandwich St. Nicholas
Hundred	Wingham
Lathe	St. Augustine
Poor Law union	Eastry

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1558.

Findmypast have the following online for Ash next Sandwich, St Nicholas: baptisms 1558-1912, marriages 1558-1925, burials 1558-1949

Churches

Church of England

St. Nicholas (parish church)

The church of St. Nicholas is of stone, varying in style from Early English to Perpendicular, and has a central tower with spire, containing a clock and 8 bells: there are some fine brasses and tombs with effigies, and a number or memorial windows: the chancel was repaired in 1861 and 1877, and the nave and aisle in 1896: the church will seat 450 persons: the churchyard has been twice enlarged by the addition of nearly an acre and a half of ground, presented by Ingram Fuller Godfrey esq. of Brooke House.

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 Ash next Sandwich from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Ash-near-Sandwich (St. Nicholas))

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.