Bidborough, Kent
Historical Description
Bidborough, a parish in Kent, 2½ miles NW by N of Tunbridge station on the S.E.R. It has a post office under Tunbridge-Wells; money order and telegraph office, Southborough. Acreage, 2106; population of civil parish, 359; of ecclesiastical, 267. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £276. The church has a Norman porch, and is in good condition. It was restored in 1877.
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 | Bidborough St. Lawrence | |
| Hundred | Washlingstone | |
| Lathe | Aylesford | |
| Poor Law union | Tonbridge |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Church Records
The register of burials dates from the year 1593; baptisms from 1632, and marriages from 1701.
Findmypast have the following online for Bidborough, St Lawrence: baptisms 1630-1896, marriages 1701-1919, burials 1593-1922
Churches
Church of England
St. Lawrence (parish church)
The church of St. Lawrence is an ancient stone building in the Norman, Early English and later styles, and has a tower containing a clock and 2 bells; two plain and low Early English arches divide the nave from the aisle and rest on a square pier: the north doorway retains portions of the original Norman work: there are memorial tablets to the Hardinge family: the church was enlarged, restored and reseated in 1877 and 1894, and affords 148 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 Bidborough from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Bidborough (St. Lawrence))
Maps
Online maps of Bidborough 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.