England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Waldershare All Saints

The Parish

The parish of Waldershare lies in eastern Kent not too far from its North Sea coastline. Waldershare is located about 4 miles northwest of the port of Dover and sits just west of the A256 road which connects Dover with the port of Sandwich. Waldershare is a tiny place, not even a hamlet, a mere area of farmland with a few scattered farms and cottages grouped loosely around the site of Waldershare Park and its house. Waldershare would have been a closed parish, almost the entire land held by a single landowner and thus able to restrict inbound settlement, as such no village ever grew up. Whilst sitting above the area of the East Kent coalfield, Waldershare was an entirely farming community, arable predominating. Sitting on porous chalk there is no obvious surface drainage, most water making its way by underground means to the nearby sea. Waldershare is sited at around 80 metres above the sea in gently rolling downland with local heights rising barely 20 metres higher. Waldershare parish was on the small size, even for an area with small parishes, it covered just over 1,200 acres and the population would have largely been below 100 parishioners. In Domesday times the parish was one of the many holdings of Bishop Odo of Bayeux and was equally small, having just ploughs as recorded assets.

The Church

All Saints' church is best found by following the North Downs Way National Trail westwards from the lane connecting Eythorne with Whitfield, this runs close by the dual-carriageway of the A256 and the path is well signed. Whilst the church may have ancient origins little remains of those periods as the main body of the church was rebuilt in 1886, a reused Early Norman window appears to have been reused in the chancel and indicates a very early origin for the preceding building. The two chapels are earlier, the southern from the end of the 17th century, the northern from the early 18th. The church was deconsecrated in 1981 and is now cared for by a charitable trust. There is just about enough space to get off the lane at the entrance to the trail, a wooden sign indicates the way to the "Historic Church". After 100 metres or so one comes to a nice lychgate and the entrance to the churchyard. The site is almost woodland with many trees around making for a tricky subject with few clear lines of sight.