Bethersden, Kent

Historical Description

Bethersden, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands 2½ miles S of Pluckley station on the S.E.R., and 6 WSW of Ashford. It has a post and money order office under Ashford; telegraph office, Pluckley railway station. The parish comprises 6376 acres; population, 1030. A marble here, now little worked, and consisting almost wholly of minute fresh-water shells, was formerly in great request for monumental sculptures and the decoration of cathedrals. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £192 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is of Tudor date, and in good condition. It was restored in 1873. There are Baptist and Wesleyan chapels.

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	Bethersden St. Beatrice
Hundred	Chart and Longbridge
Lathe	Shepway
Poor Law union	West Ashford

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

Church Records

The register dates from the year 1556.

Findmypast have the following online for Bethersden, St Beatrice: marriages 1557-1708, burials 1813-1841

Churches

Church of England

St. Margaret (parish church)

The church of St. Margaret is of Kentish rag, in the Perpendicular style, and has a tower, restored in 1896, and containing a clock and 6 bells, rehung and the third bell recast in 1896, at a cost or £500: there are several monuments and brasses: the church was restored in 1873 at a cost of nearly £1,300. In 1909 a new organ and choir stalls were provided: there are 400 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 Bethersden from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bethersden (St. Beatrice))

Maps

Online maps of Bethersden 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:

Visitations Heraldic

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

District	Ashford
County	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Postal district	TN26
Post Town	Ashford