Herne, Kent

Historical Description

Herne, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands 1¼ mile S of Heme Bay station on the L.C. & D.R., and 7 miles NE of Canterbury, with a post, money order, and telegraph office under Canterbury. It took its name, or is said to have done so, from the former plenteonsness of herons on the adjacent coast, bears also the name of Herne "Street, is pleasantly surrounded by wood, and was once a market-town. The parish contains also the town of Herne Bay, and the hamlets of Beltinge, Haw, Hampton, Thornton, Strood, Huntersfostal, Eddington, Broomfield, and Underdown. Acreage, 4938; population of the civil parish, 5482; of the ecclesiastical, 1857. Part of the land is under hops. Blean Workhouse is on Heme Common. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £400 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is partly Early English, partly Perpendicular, consists of nave, aisles, and three chancels, with a square tower, and contains many tombs and brasses. There are a church and a Congregational chapel at Herne Bay, a Wesleyan chapel in Herne village, and some small charities. An hospital containing sixty beds was built in 1875. Bishop Ridley and the antiquary Duncombe were vicars.

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 Herne, St Martin: baptisms 1558-1904, marriages 1558-1902, burials 1558-1942

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 Herne from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Herne 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

Villages, Hamlets, &c

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.