Great Chart, Kent
Historical Description
Chart, Great, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands adjacent to the Ashford and Tunbridge railway, near the river Stour, 2 miles W by S of Ashford, under which it has a post and telegraph office; money order office, Ashford. It was formerly a market-town. Acreage, 3276; population, 706. The manor belonged anciently to Christ Church, Canterbury, and belongs now to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £424 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is chiefly Perpendicular English, was much repaired in the 15th century by the Goldwell family, and contains monuments of the Goldwells, the Tokes, and others. There are a Wesleyan chapel and two almshouses. Godinton is the chief residence in the neighbourhood.
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 | Chart St. Mary | |
| 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 of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1558, marriages from 1559.
Findmypast have the following online for Great Chart, St Mary: baptisms 1558-1919, marriages 1559-1919, burials 1558-1870
Churches
Church of England
St. Mary (parish church)
The church of St. Mary is of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles, and has a tower containing a striking clock and 6 bells: there are several tombs, a number of ancient brasses with effigies to some of the Toke family (1513), and five stained windows: the church was restored in 1894, at an estimated cost of £1,000, and again in 1903-4, at a total outlay of £990, and affords 500 sittings.
Methodist
Great Chart Wesleyan Chapel
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 Great Chart from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Chart, Great (St. Mary))
Maps
Online maps of Great Chart 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.