Keston, Kent

Historical Description

Keston, a parish in Kent, 1¼ mile from Hayes station on the S.E.R. It contains on its NW border two villages, includes in its centre an open high common with a fine view, and is within the jurisdiction of the metropolitan police. It has a post and money order office under Beckenham; telegraph office, Bromley Common. Acreage, 1479; population, 746. Keston Lodge, Forest Lodge, Holwood, Hollydale, and Heathfield are chief residences. Holwood was the seat of William Pitt. A Roman camp was on Holwood Hill, and many Roman relics have been found. (See HOLWOOD HILL.) The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; value, £150 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is small. It was restored and enlarged in 1880. There are Congregational and Wesleyan chapels. There is a private chapel belonging to Lord Sackville Cecil. Adjoining this chapel is a building containing a reading-room, Jgymnasium, and baths.

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.

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 Keston from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Keston 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.