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England
& Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index |
The ParishThe parish of Smarden lies in the southern portion of central Kent roughly 8 miles west of the industrial town of Ashford. Smarden sits within an extensive area of the county, formerly part of the Wealden Royal hunting Forest, devoid of significant numbered roads, the closest such road being the A274 linking Maidstone with Tenterden and that is over 3 miles to Smarden's west. In 1332 Smarden was one of 3 market towns designated by King Edward III from the former royal property, unlike both Tenterden and Cranbrook Smarden failed to secure a market and remains to today merely a large village built principally along a single lane running northeast from the bridge over the River Boult. Within the wider hamlet there also exist a number of smaller hamlets each having their own small population. The former usage of the parish is amply illustrated by early gazetteer estimates that almost a quarter of the parish acreage remained as woodland whilst arable farming dominated the remainder with a few pastures along the Boult. Modern developments have come to the parish with almost Roman straight railway line from Tonbridge to Ashford passing north of the village without granting Smarden a station. Smarden is drained northwestwards by the Boult which eventually meets the Medway before turning north to reach the outer Thames estuary after passing the docks of Chatham. Smarden is sited on a gently rising site from 20 metres by the Boult to 30 at Biddenden Green hamlet, that the landscape is gentle is illustrated by the local high point of Monk's Hill only topping out at 44 metres. Smarden parish was large for its county, as are so many in The Weald, covering almost 5,400 acres it is sized more like a northern upland parish and supported a population of close to 1,150 parishioners both within the village and widely scattered across that acreage in hamlets, farms and cottages. Given The Weald's status it is not surprising that Smarden like so many villages in the area is not mentioned in Domesday Book. |
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Register No | Covering Dates | Deposited With | Register Style | Quality Standard | Comments |
1 |
16th April 1754 - 27th April 1812 |
Kent Archives & Local History - Maidstone - Reference
- P339/1/D/1 |
Standard preprinted and self-numbered combined Banns &
Marriage register with 4 entries per page |
Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low
likelihood of misreads |
None |
2 | 23rd February 1813 - 1st June 1837 | Kent Archives & Local History - Maidstone - Reference - P339/1/D/2 | Standard Rose style preprinted and prenumbered Marriage register | Grade 2 Register - not a perfect read but with a low likelihood of
misreads |
None |
Boughton
Malherbe St Nicholas
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Pluckley
St Nicholas
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Headcorn
St Peter & St Paul
Biddenden All Saints |
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Biddenden
All Saints
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1760 1770 1780 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830
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