Tonge, Kent

Historical Description

Tonge, a parish in Kent, 1 mile from Teynham station on the L.C. & D.R., and 2 miles from Sittingbourne. Post town, Sittingbourne; money order and telegraph office, Bapchild. Acreage, 1636; population, 303. There is a parish council consisting of five members. Tonge Castle dates from the earliest Saxon times; was the scene of a massacre of the ancient Britons by the Saxons; belonged in the time of Richard II. to Mortimer, Earl of March, and is now represented by a high moated mound. Chekes Court is the chief residence. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £165 with residence.

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 Tonge from the following:

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

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.