Smarden, Kent

Historical Description

Smarden, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the river Beult, 3 miles from Pluckley and Headcorn stations on the S.E.R., and 9 from Ashford. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office. There are many quaint old timbered houses in the village, which at one time had a considerable trade in linen and woollen goods, but this industry has quite died out. The parish comprises 5387 acres; population, 1070. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £360 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is a building of stone in the Decorated and Perpendicular styles. There are two Baptist chapels, a reading-room, and an endowed school.

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 Smarden from the following:

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

Maps

Online maps of Smarden 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.