Our online archive draws on original source materials underpinning Chelsfield’s history. This includes be material produced by those who lived in the village and observed its activities and events and also written records such as deeds,school logbooks and records of tithe and tax assessments. In this part of the site we give links to many source documents on this and other sites. These have sometimes been transcribed from the original handwritten text which may be hard to read. It may be of interest to students, those researching family history, or those who just wish to delve deeper into the history of the area. Click on a named document to open. Some of these documents need to be read with Adobe Acrobat and you may additionally need to click on the Acrobat icon to open a downloaded document. Please note before printing that some of these documents are very long. If you plan to use or reproduce these, please observe any copyright restrictions and acknowledge source and transcriber. We strive to be accurate; views expressed will be those of the author, not the Community Archive. 1. Documents from the Harris Manuscripts relating to Lilleys Farm Chelsfield - this document is in pdf and runs to 100 pages. It contains a number of transcriptions of original documents relevant to the ownership of Lilleys Farm from 1617 to 1939. The farm was destroyed by a doodlebug in 1944. Would anyone making use of the transcripts please acknowledge Dr John Nightingale, to whom the collection belongs, and Geoffrey Copus for his work in creating the transcripts. 2. Chelsfield Parochial Notes collected by AT Waring 1904-1914. This document gives a detailed account of Chelsfield Manors, property, families and individuals from medieval times to the Edwardian era. Please note this is a long document and formed of three separate pdf files. 3. Extracts from records at Canterbury Cathedral Library, relating to Chelsfield School 1851-1872. Seven pages containing extracts from the Canterbury Cathedral Library transcribed by Geoffrey Copus. Please acknowledge source and transcriber if you wish to reproduce an extract. These extracts are printed with the permission of Canterbury Cathedral Archive. 4. Window Tax Assessment for Chelsfield 1771 - three pages setting out the window tax assessment for Chelsfield in 1761 including names, number of “lights” or windows, and the rate assessed. 5. Land Tax Assessment for Chelsfield 1771 - four pages setting out the assessed rent, the landowner, the tenant and the tax due for properties in Chelsfield in 1761. 6. Land and Window Tax Assessment for Chelsfield 1776 - seven pages detailing window tax and land tax assessments, including names of occupiers, number of “lights” or windows, and tax due. 7. Monumental Inscriptions from Chelsfield churchyard. These records have been transcribed from the notebooks of Lelend L Duncan, by Frank Bamping. They describe the inscriptions on 15 July 1890. They are hosted by the website of the Kent Archaelogical Society, which is where the link will take you. 8. Chelsfield wills proved in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury. These abstracts of 119 wills with references to Chelsfield have been transcribed by Geoff Copus. They have all been proved in the Prerogative of Canterbury 1388 - 1858. There is an alphabetical index of names with dates. They are hosted by the website of the Kent Archaelogical Society, which is where this link will take you. 9. Chelsfield tithe award schedule. This schedule corresponds to the Tithe Map of 1840 (see maps) and sets out the land ownership and use in that year. The schedule is hosted by the website of the Kent Archaelogical Society, which is where this link will take you. 10. Carol Margetts’ account of the history of the village bakery, written in 1997. This document is reproduced courtesy of Bromley Borough Local History Society (BBLHS). A History of the Smallwood Family Bakery in Chelsfield Village.

Chelsfield A Community Archive

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