Eastchurch, Kent

Historical Description

Eastchurch, a hamlet and a parish in Kent. The hamlet lies on Hensbrook, on the north side of Sheppey Isle, 5 miles E by S of Queenborough station on the L.C. & D.R., and 6 from Sheerness. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Sheerness. The parish comprises 7006 acres of land and 954 of tidal water and foreshore; population, 854. Shurland manor here belonged to a family of its own name before the time of Henry III.; passed in 1323 to the Cheneys, and went afterwards to the Herberts. A mansion was built on it in the time of Henry VIII. with materials from Chilham Castle, and is now a farmhouse. Eastchurch living is a rectory and a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £650. The church is Perpendicular English, has a conspicuous tower, belonged early to the Cistercian convent of the Dunes in Flanders, and was transferred to Box-ley Abbey in Kent. It was well restored in 1871 and 1872. There are Primitive Methodist and Wesleyan chapels.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

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

Church Records

Findmypast have the following online for Eastchurch, All Saints: baptisms 1677-1867, marriages 1677-1837, burials 1677-1857

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 Eastchurch from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (East-Church (All Saints))

Maps

Online maps of Eastchurch 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.