Goudhurst, Kent

Historical Description

Goudhurst, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on a hill, near the river Theise, 5 miles WNW of Cranbrook, and has a station on the Cranbrook and Paddock Wood branch of the S.E.R.; was formerly a seat of the clothing trade and a market-town, and has now a post, money order, and telegraph office (S.O.), under Staplehurst, and a news-room. The parish comprises 9798 acres; population of the civil parish, 2734; of the ecclesiastical, 1858. Goudhurst Hill has an altitude of 491 feet, forms part of a range about 3 miles long, and is skirted on the W by the river Tees. Bedgebury Park was long the residence of the Bedgeburys; passed to the Colepepers, the Stephensons, the Cartiers, and the Beresfords. Combwell was once a priory, and afterwards the residence of the Campions. Finchcocks belonged to the Finchcock family in the time of Henry III., and the present mansion was built by the Bathursts in 1725. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £320 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church stands on a lofty site, commands from its tower an extensive and noble view, is itself a fine edifice, and contains many monuments of the Colepepers and the Campions. There are Wesleyan, Primitive Methodist, Baptist, and Roman Catholic chapels, an endowed school, and other charities.

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 Goudhurst, St Mary: baptisms 1558-1919, marriages 1558-1929, burials 1558-1922

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 Goudhurst from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Goudhurst (St. Mary))

Maps

Online maps of Goudhurst 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.