North Cray, Kent
Historical Description
Cray, North, a parish in Kent, on the rivulet Cray, 1 mile NNE of Foots-Cray, and 1½ mile from Bexley station on the S.E.R. It has a post office under Chislehurst; money order and telegraph office, Foots-Cray. Acreage, 1484; population, 549. North Cray Place belonged to the Hether-ingtons, passed to the Coventrys, and now belongs to Captain R. A. Vansittard. Vale Mascall, Mount Mascall, and Woollet Hall (where Lord Castlereagh once lived), are seats in the parish. Enxley or Rokeslie was once a separate parish, and had a church in Late Decorated English, now converted into a barn. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; tithe commuted at £363 with residence. The church is very good, and was rebuilt in 1858, and the chancel in 1870.
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 | North Cray St. James | |
| Hundred | Ruxley | |
| Lathe | Sutton-at-Hone | |
| Poor Law union | Bromley |
Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.
Churches
Church of England
St. James (parish church)
The church of St. James is of stone in the Perpendicular style, and has a tower with spire containing 3 bells: the chancel was rebuilt in 1871, at a cost of £1,000: there are several memorial windows, a carved oak pulpit dated 1637, a marble figure in memory of Octavia Catherine (Vane-Tempest), wife of Edward, 1st Earl of Ellenborough, d. 5 March, 1819, and a picture of the "Crucifixion" by Gessi, formerly in old Lamorbey church: the church affords 180 sittings.
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 North Cray from the following:
- Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cray, North (St. James))
Maps
Online maps of North Cray 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.