England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Seal St Peter & St Paul

The Parish

The parish of Seal lies in western Kent about 2 miles northeast of the town of Sevenoaks. Seal sits on the A25 road which connects sevenoaks onwards to the A20 at Wrotham and thence to Maidstone. Seal is a large village, today it has almost become contiguous with the growing town of Sevenoaks, many properties around the junction by the church but also expanding northwards along the lane leading to Kemsing. Modern communications also pass through or close to Seal, both the London to Maidstone rail line and the modern M26 motorway pass through the north of the parish. Seal's economy would have been underpinned by agriculture but the local stone, the Greensand, was also exploited for building stone diversifying the economic base. Seal is drained westwards by a small tributary of the River Darent which makes its way through the ridge of the North Downs to reach the outer Thames just to the east of Erith. Seal is sited at around 90 metres above the sea and sits in the Weald just south of the North Downs which rise to local heights of over 200 metres within a couple of miles of the village. Seal parish was quite large, but parishes in southwestern Kent often are, it covered almost 4,400 acres, more typical of a northern English county, and supported a substantial population of just over 1,600 parishioners. In Domesday times Seal was one of the many holdings of Bishop Odo of Bayeux, it could offer 19 ploughs, a fishery and woodland occupied by no fewer than 75 swine render.

The Church

St Peter & St Paul's church sits at the heart of the village in the fork between the two lanes running northwards towards Kemsing. Pevsner searches hard to find early remaining evidence and the meagre remains of a blocked lancet window in the eastern aisle and two piers in the arcade are all that remain from what would have been a 13th century Early English Gothic origin. Much later, between 1520 & 1529, comes the western tower complete with its southwestern stair turret as well as the largely Perpendicular nave and chancel. In 1855 the northern aisle was added and lengthened in 1879. The main entrance, with large parking area on Church Street, is through a nice lychgate leading to a churchyard which is largely free of impediments to photography.