Reculver Genealogical Records
Reculver Birth & Baptism Records
An index to births registered throughout England & Wales. Provides a reference to order copies of birth certificates from the national registrar of births, marriages and deaths – the General Register Office.
Baptism registers are the primary source for birth documentation before 1837, though are relevant to the present. They record the date a child was baptised, their parents' names, occupations, residence and more.
Over 130,000 extracted baptism from 207 parishes in Kent. The names of those involved can be searched via an index and are connected to images of the transcription notebooks.
Browsable images of summaries of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.
Browsable images of registers the recorded baptisms, marriages and burials in Kent. Names are not indexed.
Reculver Marriage & Divorce Records
An index to marriages registered throughout England & Wales. This is the only national marriage index that allows you to search by both spouse's names. Provides a reference to order copies of marriage certificates from the national registrar of births, marriages and deaths – the General Register Office.
Brief notes on marriages occurring in St Mary, Reculver from 1602 to 1928.
Over 55,000 extracted marriages from 207 parishes in Kent. The names of those involved can be searched via an index and are connected to images of the transcription notebooks.
Abstracts of marriages licences granted by the Diocese of Canterbury. These records can contain more details than marriage records, including details such as age, occupation, residence and names of parents or guardians.
Abstracts of marriage licences granted by the Vicar-General in London. These licences could be used to marry in any church in the Province of Canterbury.
Reculver Death & Burial Records
An index to deaths registered throughout England & Wales. Provides a reference to order copies of death certificates from the national registrar of births, marriages and deaths – the General Register Office.
Records of burial for people buried at St Mary, Reculver between 1602 and 1812. Details include the deceased's name, residence and age. Some records may contain the names of relations, cause of death and more.
Over 100,000 extracted burials from the registers of 207 parishes in Kent. The names of those involved can be searched via an index and are connected to images of the transcription notebooks.
Browsable images of summaries of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.
Browsable images of registers the recorded baptisms, marriages and burials in Kent. Names are not indexed.
Reculver Census & Population Lists
An index to and digital images of records that detail 40 million civilians in England and Wales. Records list name, date of birth, address, marital status, occupation and details of trade or profession.
The 1911 census provides details on an individual's age, residence, place of birth, relations and occupation. FindMyPast's index allows searches on for multiple metrics including occupation and residence.
A transcription of records naming those who had taxes levied against them for the privilege of owning a hearth.
Browsable images of Kent electoral rolls poll books, which list those eligible to vote as well as lists of freemen, apprentices, burgess records and militia musters.
The 1901 census provides details on an individual's age, residence, place of birth, relations and occupation. FindMyPast's index allows searches on for multiple metrics including occupation and residence.
Newspapers Covering Reculver
Local news; notices of births, marriages and deaths; business notices; details on the proceedings of public institutions; adverts and a rich tapestry of other local information from the Whitstable district. Every line of text from the newspaper can be searched and images of the original pages viewed.
A database allowing full text searches of a newspaper covering local news, family announcements, obituaries, court proceedings, business notices and more in the Dover area.
A conservative-oriented newspaper reporting on local news, births, marriages and deaths in the two counties.
A record of births, marriages, deaths, legal, political, organisation and other news from the counties of Kent and Sussex. Original pages of the newspaper can be viewed and located by a full text search.
A regional paper including news from the Kent area, legal & governmental proceedings, family announcements, business notices, advertisements and more.
Reculver Wills & Probate Records
Searchable index and original images of over 12.5 million probates and administrations granted by civil registries. Entries usually include the testator's name, date of death, date of probate and registry. Names of relations may be given.
An index to probates and administrations held at Canterbury Probate Registry. Contains details on the testator, type of grant, residence, occupation and reference to order the original.
Abstracts and references to 10,000s of wills and probate documents, primarily from East Kent.
Browsable images of inventories. Also includes freeman papers for Queenborough.
Browsable images of administrations, inventories and wills.
Reculver Immigration & Travel Records
A small list of convicts transported to the colonies.
A name index connected to original images of passenger lists recording people travelling from Britain to destinations outside Europe. Records may detail a passenger's age or date of birth, residence, occupation, destination and more.
A full index of passenger lists for vessels arriving in the UK linked to original images. Does not include lists from vessels sailing from European ports. Early entries can be brief, but later entries may include dates of births, occupations, home addresses and more. Useful for documenting immigration.
An index to and images of documents recording over 1.65 million passengers who arrived in Victoria, Australia, including passengers whose voyage was paid for by others.
Details on over 600,000 non-British citizens arriving in England. Often includes age and professions. Useful for discerning the origin of immigrants.
Reculver Military Records
A great deal of information relating to the regiment, including a thorough history, biographical details, photographs, information on honours etc.
A general history of the yeomanry, including extracts from original records
A volume from the most respected work concerning English history. It covers military history, country houses, industry, roads and a transcription of Domesday entries relating to Kent.
A finding aid for records detailing orders relating to ordinary rank men in the Royal West Kent Regiment.
Details of voluntary aid workers in Kent during WWI.
Reculver Court & Legal Records
Registers recording details of around 9,000 prisoners held in ships stationed in Kent. Records describe a convict's name, age, place of birth, physical description, offence, conviction, sentence, discharge and conduct report.
Over 70,000 browsable pages detailing the administration of poor law unions in Kent. Records contain details on births, marriages & deaths; punishments; admissions and discharges and more.
A name index to 1,000s of people mentioned in legal records relating to crime and administration. The records include settlements, removals and bastardy orders.
Legal records covering a variety of issues from land to bastardy.
An index to names and places mentioned in act books of the Province of Canterbury. It records various licences and conferments, such as marriage and physician licences.
Reculver Taxation Records
A list of those who voted in the election, stating their residence and for who they voted.
A transcription of records naming those who had taxes levied against them for the privilege of owning a hearth.
Browsable images of registers that record owners and occupiers of land. Useful for tracing succession of freehold and tenancies.
An index to 11,000,000 parcels of land and property, connected to digital images of registers that record their owner, occupier, description, agricultural use, size and rateable value.
This vital collection details almost 1.2 million properties eligible for land tax. Records include the name of the landowner, occupier, amount assessed and sometimes the name and/or description of the property. It is a useful starting point for locating relevant estate records and establishing the succession of tenancies and freehold. Most records cover 1798, but some extend up to 1811.
Reculver Land & Property Records
A list of those who voted in the election, stating their residence and for who they voted.
Browsable images of registers that record owners and occupiers of land. Useful for tracing succession of freehold and tenancies.
Browsable images of Kent electoral rolls poll books, which list those eligible to vote as well as lists of freemen, apprentices, burgess records and militia musters.
An index to 11,000,000 parcels of land and property, connected to digital images of registers that record their owner, occupier, description, agricultural use, size and rateable value.
This vital collection details almost 1.2 million properties eligible for land tax. Records include the name of the landowner, occupier, amount assessed and sometimes the name and/or description of the property. It is a useful starting point for locating relevant estate records and establishing the succession of tenancies and freehold. Most records cover 1798, but some extend up to 1811.
Reculver Directories & Gazetteers
A directory of settlements in Kent detailing their history, agriculture, topography, economy and leading commercial, professional and private residents.
An exhaustive gazetteer, containing details of settlement's history, governance, churches, postal services, public institutions and more. Also contains lists of residents with their occupation and address.
A comprehensive place-by-place gazetteer, listing key contemporary and historical facts. Each place has a list of residents and businesses. Contains details on local schools, churches, government and other institutions.
A comprehensive place-by-place gazetteer, listing key contemporary and historical facts. Each place has a list of residents and businesses. Contains details on local schools, churches, government and other institutions.
A comprehensive place-by-place gazetteer, listing key contemporary and historical facts. Each place has a list of residents and businesses. Contains details on local schools, churches, government and other institutions.
Reculver Cemeteries
Transcriptions of thousands of memorials and headstones found in Kent.
Photographs and descriptions of Kent's most illustrious church monuments, often featuring effigies, medieval inscriptions and heraldic devices.
Images of millions of pages from cemetery and crematoria registers, photographs of memorials, cemetery plans and more. Records can be search by a name index.
Photographs and transcriptions of millions of gravestones from cemeteries around the world.
Profiles of several hundred mausolea found in the British Isles.
Reculver Obituaries
The UKs largest repository of obituaries, containing millions of searchable notices.
A growing collection currently containing over 425,000 abstracts of obituaries with reference to the location of the full obituary.
A collection of 364 obituaries of Quakers from the British Isles. The volume was published in 1849 and includes obituaries of those who died in late 1847 through 1848.
This transcribed and searchable work by Sir William Musgrave contains 10,000s of brief obituaries. The work is a reference point for other works containing information on an individual.
A text index and digital images of all editions of a journal containing medical articles and obituaries of medical practitioners.
Reculver Histories & Books
A sprawling work containing a detailed history of the county and each parish.
A detailed history of the county's hundreds, parishes and religious houses.
A volume from the most respected work concerning English history. It covers military history, country houses, industry, roads and a transcription of Domesday entries relating to Kent.
Photographs and images of churches in Kent.
Photographs of parish churches in Hampshire, with architectural details and extracts from the 1851 ecclesiastical census.
Reculver School & Education Records
A name index connected to digital images of registers recording millions of children educated in schools operated by the National Society for Promoting Religious Education. Records contain a variety of information including genealogical details, education history, illnesses, exam result, fathers occupation and more.
A name index linked to original images of registers recording the education and careers of teachers in England & Wales.
A name index linked to original images of short biographies for over 120,000 Oxford University students. This is a particularly useful source for tracing the ancestry of the landed gentry.
A transcript of a vast scholarly work briefly chronicling the heritage, education and careers of over 150,000 Cambridge University students. This is a particularly useful source for tracing the ancestry of the landed gentry.
A searchable database containing over 90,000 note-form biographies for students of Cambridge University.
Reculver Occupation & Business Records
A calendar to licences granted by Diocese of Canterbury to teachers, physicians and apothecaries.
Articles detailing several smuggling gangs that operated in the county.
An introduction to smuggling in on the east coast of England, with details of the act in various regions.
An introduction to smuggling on the east coast of England, with details of the act in various regions.
Histories of Kent pubs, with photographs and lists of owners or operators.
Pedigrees & Family Trees Covering Reculver
A detailed history of the county's hundreds, parishes and religious houses.
Hand-draw genealogical charts covering Kent's gentry. Includes descriptions of coats of arms.
A collection of pedigrees, family notes and historical extracts relating to Kent and its families.
Extensive and impeccably sourced genealogies for British, Irish & Manx royalty and nobility. Scroll down to 'British Isles' for relevant sections.
A searchable database of linked genealogies compiled from thousands of reputable and not-so-reputable sources. Contains many details on European gentry & nobility, but covers many countries outside Europe and people from all walks of life.
Reculver Royalty, Nobility & Heraldry Records
A detailed history of the county's hundreds, parishes and religious houses.
Hand-draw genealogical charts covering Kent's gentry. Includes descriptions of coats of arms.
Photographs and descriptions of Kent's most illustrious church monuments, often featuring effigies, medieval inscriptions and heraldic devices.
Extensive and impeccably sourced genealogies for British, Irish & Manx royalty and nobility. Scroll down to 'British Isles' for relevant sections.
A searchable database of linked genealogies compiled from thousands of reputable and not-so-reputable sources. Contains many details on European gentry & nobility, but covers many countries outside Europe and people from all walks of life.
Reculver Church Records
The parish registers of Reculver are a collection of books documenting baptisms, marriages and burials from 1602 to 1928.
Over 180,000 extracted entries from the registers of 207 parishes in Kent. The names of those involved can be searched via an index and are connected to images of the transcription notebooks.
Extracts relating to the ecclesiastical history of the Archdeaconry of Canterbury.
Photographs of parish churches in Hampshire, with architectural details and extracts from the 1851 ecclesiastical census.
Browsable images of summaries of registers of baptisms, marriages and burials.
Biographical Directories Covering Reculver
A searchable book, listing pedigrees of titled families and biographies of their members.
A book containing genealogies and biographies of Britain's titled families.
A book containing genealogies and biographies of Britain's titled families.
Brief biographies of Anglican clergy in the UK.
A directory containing lengthy biographies of noted British figures. The work took over two decades to compile. Biographies can be searched by name and are linked to images of the original publication.
Reculver Maps
Digital images of maps covering the county.
Detailed maps covering much of the UK. They depict forests, mountains, larger farms, roads, railroads, towns, and more.
Maps showing settlements, features and some buildings in mainland Britain.
An index to 11,000,000 parcels of land and property, connected to digital images of registers that record their owner, occupier, description, agricultural use, size and rateable value.
Maps of parishes in England, Scotland and Wales. They are useful in determining which parish records may be relevant to your research.
Reculver Reference Works
A beginner’s guide to researching ancestry in England.
Compiled in 1831, this book details the coverage and condition of parish registers in England & Wales.
A comprehensive guide to researching the history of buildings in the British Isles.
A service that provides advanced and custom surname maps for the British Isles and the US.
A dictionary of around 9,000 mottoes for British families who had right to bear arms.
Civil & Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction
Historical Description
Reculver is an object of popular celebrity, on account of the "sister-towers" of its church, which form so well-known and useful a sea-mark; but it is more deserving of curious investigation, on account of the remains of a Roman station still existing. This was the Regulbium of the ancients : and the fortified station here constructed secured one mouth of that great channel through which ships were accustomed to pass, and which ran from the point of shore now termed Reculver in a southeast direction towards Sandwich, whilst Richborough protected the other entrance. Few vestiges of the Roman fortifications now remain; but numerous coins, and other antiquities, assignable to those successful invaders of Britain, have been discovered. Regulbium afterwards became a seat of the Saxon kings; and it appears that, even in subsequent times, there stood here a town of much importance. We have shewn that the sea has receded from Richborough, and left it in an inland situation. On the other hand, the tempestuous waves have encroached upon Reculver to a fearful and memorable extent. The waters have swallowed up nearly the whole of the Roman station, and depopulated even the small village which occupied the site of former military or regal buildings. The two similar towers placed at the west end of the church of St. Mary, at Reculver, have led to a groundless supposition of the building having been raised by two sisters. The sea has now made frightful encroachments upon the cemetery attached to this structure, and it is probable that the church itself will soon sink beneath the waters. The building is abandoned as a place of divine worship, and a new church has been constructed about a mile distant from the present edifice.
RECULVER is a parish on the coast, 5 miles east from Herne Bay station on the South Eastern and Chatham railway and 11 west from Margate, in the Eastern division of the county, lathe of St. Augustine, hundred of Bleangate, Herne petty sessional division, union of Blean, county court district of Canterbury, and in the rural deanery of Westbere and archdeaconry and diocese of Canterbury; its name, suggestive of the settlement of a Teuton named Raculf, probably approximates very closely to the original word Latinized into the name of the Roman station Ragulbium, which lies on the coast, near the coastguard station, about a mile and three-quarters north-east from the village, and was established here for the purpose of commanding the strait of the Stour, formerly navigable, dividing the island of Thanet from the main land. Of the ancient Early English church nothing more remains than the two towers, called by tradition “The Sisters,” and a small part of the walls, this fine structure having been undermined by the sea, which has for many years been making encroachments on this coast. The towers were purchased by the Corporation of the Trinity House from the parish in 1810 and measures have been taken for their preservation.
The church of St. Mary, at Hilborough, is of flint and stone in the Early English style, and has a bell gable with one bell; the church was consecrated June 12, 1878; and there are preserved in it many ancient tombstones brought from the church near the sea, as well as portions of its fabric, including two perfect arches in the porch; the font, of Perpendicular date, came from the church of All Saints, Thanet, of which nothing now remains; there are 150 sittings. The register of baptisms and burials dates from the year 1602, marriages from 1603. The living is a vicarage, with the chapelry of Hoath annexed, joint net yearly value £220, with 3 acres of glebe, in the gift of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and held since 1874 by the Rev. Robert Healey Blakey M.A. and formerly fellow of Dublin University, who resides at Hoath.
That Reculver was not only a military station, but a site of a large town in the time of the Romans, appears from the many cisterns, vaults and foundations of buildings which have been exposed at different times by the fall of the cliff, and also from the great number of Roman and British coins and the quantities of pottery and various utensils found here. It has been asserted that Ethelbert, King of Kent and Bretwalda, built a palace here, and sufficient remains of a fortified position of great strength have been found to prove the former existence of a castle. An abbey, dedicated to St. Mary, was established at Reculver, but when or by whom is not known, the first mention being made of it in the year 679 in a MS. preserved in the Bodleian Library at Oxford; it was annexed to the monastery of Christ Church, Canterbury, in 949, by a grant of King Edred, and in 1020 became collegiate; two pillars of the basilica are preserved in the Green court, Canterbury. King Ethelbert I. the Bretwalda, retired here after his conversion, and is said to have been buried in the abbey. Ethelbert II. King of Kent, who died in 760, was also buried here. In 1313 King Edward II. granted a market to the town, which is now obsolete. At Bishop-stone and at Regulbium Camp are coastguard stations. A considerable part of the parish adjoining the channel or river is marsh. To the north the coast is a bluff cliff, except along the marshes, where it is guarded by a sea wall, through which the river Stour is discharged by the North Mouth sluice. The charities amount to about £14 3s. yearly, derived from various ancient bequests and from Tents. The Archbishop of Canterbury is lord of the manor. The principal landowners are the Marquess of Conyngham, the trustees of J. Collard and Miss Monckton. The soil is clayey; subsoil, sand. The chief crops are wheat and barley. The area is 1,212 acres of land, 2 of water and 184 of foreshore; rateable value, £2,699; the population in 1901 was 256.
Broomfield and Oxenden Corner are one mile and a half south of the church.
National School (mixed), erected in 1875, for 52 children; average attendance, 40.
Most Common Surnames in Reculver
| Rank | Surname | Incidence | Frequency | Percent of Parent | Rank in Bleangate Hundred |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gammon | 17 | 1:18 | 5.07% | 516 |
| 2 | Foad | 14 | 1:21 | 8.64% | 1,050 |
| 3 | Hoare | 9 | 1:33 | 1.82% | 311 |
| 4 | Morris | 8 | 1:37 | 0.52% | 69 |
| 4 | Collins | 8 | 1:37 | 0.30% | 17 |
| 4 | West | 8 | 1:37 | 0.38% | 35 |
| 4 | Waters | 8 | 1:37 | 0.59% | 85 |
| 4 | Wise | 8 | 1:37 | 1.39% | 261 |
| 4 | Seath | 8 | 1:37 | 7.21% | 1,439 |
| 4 | Fridd | 8 | 1:37 | 13.33% | 2,432 |
| 11 | Bradley | 7 | 1:43 | 1.23% | 263 |
| 11 | Hancock | 7 | 1:43 | 1.78% | 423 |
| 11 | Love | 7 | 1:43 | 1.85% | 450 |
| 11 | Wootton | 7 | 1:43 | 5.43% | 1,267 |
| 11 | Flood | 7 | 1:43 | 3.89% | 962 |
| 11 | Philpott | 7 | 1:43 | 0.76% | 139 |
| 11 | Greer | 7 | 1:43 | 25.00% | 4,379 |
| 18 | Newton | 6 | 1:50 | 1.48% | 403 |
| 18 | Barry | 6 | 1:50 | 2.42% | 713 |
| 18 | Jenkinson | 6 | 1:50 | 9.84% | 2,406 |
| 18 | Amos | 6 | 1:50 | 0.68% | 147 |
| 18 | Port | 6 | 1:50 | 2.70% | 808 |
| 23 | Taylor | 5 | 1:60 | 0.09% | 3 |
| 23 | Johnson | 5 | 1:60 | 0.15% | 12 |
| 23 | Kemp | 5 | 1:60 | 0.28% | 52 |
| 23 | Ashton | 5 | 1:60 | 2.11% | 757 |
| 23 | Hood | 5 | 1:60 | 1.36% | 464 |
| 23 | Brewer | 5 | 1:60 | 2.04% | 724 |
| 23 | Whiting | 5 | 1:60 | 1.51% | 520 |
| 23 | Collard | 5 | 1:60 | 1.15% | 366 |
| 23 | Lush | 5 | 1:60 | 13.16% | 3,455 |
| 23 | Ruck | 5 | 1:60 | 2.56% | 897 |
| 23 | Jozzard | 5 | 1:60 | 100.00% | 15,677 |
| 34 | Jones | 4 | 1:75 | 0.10% | 7 |
| 34 | Carter | 4 | 1:75 | 0.19% | 36 |
| 34 | Wells | 4 | 1:75 | 0.18% | 32 |
| 34 | Bates | 4 | 1:75 | 0.54% | 195 |
| 34 | Gifford | 4 | 1:75 | 2.01% | 881 |
| 34 | Aird | 4 | 1:75 | 15.38% | 4,646 |
| 34 | Prett | 4 | 1:75 | 5.41% | 2,053 |
| 41 | Holman | 3 | 1:99 | 0.88% | 502 |
| 41 | Hurlock | 3 | 1:99 | 10.71% | 4,379 |
| 43 | Hewitt | 2 | 1:149 | 0.43% | 338 |
| 43 | Sayer | 2 | 1:149 | 0.33% | 253 |
| 43 | Ansell | 2 | 1:149 | 0.58% | 497 |
| 43 | Beal | 2 | 1:149 | 0.74% | 642 |
| 43 | Streeter | 2 | 1:149 | 1.22% | 1,044 |
| 43 | Mandeville | 2 | 1:149 | 50.00% | 18,001 |
| 43 | Ekers | 2 | 1:149 | 100.00% | 24,019 |
| 50 | Bailey | 1 | 1:298 | 0.06% | 46 |
| 50 | Chapman | 1 | 1:298 | 0.03% | 14 |
| 50 | Rogers | 1 | 1:298 | 0.06% | 55 |
| 50 | Davidson | 1 | 1:298 | 0.33% | 578 |
| 50 | Fuller | 1 | 1:298 | 0.07% | 73 |
| 50 | Hobbs | 1 | 1:298 | 0.15% | 220 |
| 50 | Finch | 1 | 1:298 | 0.16% | 239 |
| 50 | Godfrey | 1 | 1:298 | 0.21% | 333 |
| 50 | Gardiner | 1 | 1:298 | 0.39% | 667 |
| 50 | Butt | 1 | 1:298 | 1.02% | 1,610 |
| 50 | Southern | 1 | 1:298 | 2.00% | 2,803 |
| 50 | Steed | 1 | 1:298 | 0.62% | 1,058 |
| 50 | Fagg | 1 | 1:298 | 0.12% | 151 |
| 50 | Bedwell | 1 | 1:298 | 0.83% | 1,354 |
| 50 | Barrows | 1 | 1:298 | 1.11% | 1,739 |
| 50 | Wratten | 1 | 1:298 | 0.41% | 733 |
| 50 | Brockman | 1 | 1:298 | 0.45% | 815 |
| 50 | Henman | 1 | 1:298 | 7.69% | 7,644 |
| 50 | Kelway | 1 | 1:298 | 4.76% | 5,415 |
| 50 | Prattley | 1 | 1:298 | 100.00% | 28,817 |