Betteshanger or Betshanger, Kent
Historical Description
Betteshanger or Betshanger, a parish in Kent, 3½ miles SSW of Sandwich station on the S.E.R., and 5 W of Deal. Post town, Dover; money order and telegraph office, Eastry. Acreage, 395; population of the civil parish, 71; of the ecclesiastical, with Ham, 133. Betteshanger Park belonged formerly to the Boys family, and belongs now to Lord Northbourne. The living, with Ham, is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £114 with residence. Patron, Lord Northbourne. The church is Norman, and has been restored.
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 | Betteshanger St. Mary | |
Hundred | Eastry | |
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 1562.
Findmypast have the following online for Betteshanger, St Mary the Virgin: baptisms 1562-1853, marriages 1583-1875, burials 1562-1932
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is a very small building of flint and stone, with Norman nave and chancel arch and Early English chancel, and has a tower with tiled roof containing a clock and 3 bells: there are memorials to the Morrice, Boys and Brett families, and several stained windows: the church was rebuilt in 1853-4 and has 120 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 Betteshanger or Betshanger from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Betteshanger (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Betteshanger or Betshanger 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.