Lower Halstow, Kent

Historical Description

Halstow, Lower, a parish in Kent, at the upper end of Stangate Creek, between the Medway and the Swale, 2 miles from Newington station on the L.C. & D.R., and 4¼ NW of Sittingboume. It has a post office under Sittingbourne; money order and telegraph office, Upchurch. Acreage, 1390; population, 653. Part of the land is marsh. An ancient village, inhabited by potters, seems to have been here, and an old embankment, to protect the land from the sea, and filled with broken tiles and pottery, is near the church. Brickmaking now employs many of the inhabitants, and there is a quay on one of the creeks of the Medway. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £320 with residence. Patrons, the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury. The church is ancient but good, is probably of Saxon origin, includes much Roman masonry in its walls, and has a small tower. There is a Bible Christian chapeL

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 Lower Halstow from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Halstow, Low (St. Margaret))

Maps

Online maps of Lower Halstow 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.