Farnborough Kent's Earliest Composite register

Despite the appearance of the external cover this volume of the parish register commencing in 1558 is in generally good condition and proved straightforward to transcribe. However the poverty of record keeping in several periods means that there are gaps in coverage. Some of the entries are confused with one entry containing two male names as husband and wife in a baptismal entry. The volume however is valuable in containing the names and changes of Monarchs and  of clergy who were Rectors of Chelsfield and Farnborough. Farnborough was at this time a parish; formerly a chapel of ease within the Ancient Parish of Chelsfield. From 1558 it had it's own parish register Churchwardens and Officers although the entries record only Curates names suggesting that the Rector was responsible for the Parish of Chelsfield ( and resided there).
The Curates vary in their record keeping; there are from the outset yearly composite entries which contain a mixture of baptisms marriages and burials. However the entire register contains burials until 1678 only with a note "here ends the register of burials in this book". From 1679 onwards only baptisms are recorded and the marriage entries appear in the last pages of the bound volume after several blank pages. This suggests that supervision of the recording was lax and that in some years entries may under record baptisms.
Farnborough lost the third of the George Smiths who had served as rectors of  Chelsfield and Farnborough in 1650 during the period of the Commonwealth 1640-1660 and Parliament installed as Rector of Farnborough John Montague. This ended in 1660 when the Acts of Commonwealth Parliaments were declared non existent. The entries of Farnborough events throughout the Commonwealth period are conained in the Farnborough pages of the Chelsfield Parish register and are online at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough page.
There are gaps in years and  I have previously blogged about some misunderstandings and eccentric spellings of Farnborough families with one entry for George recorded as Jarg which reflect the unfamiliarity of clergy with long established parish families.
Marriages contain only names of spouses until the 1700's when some entries record marriages by Licence and spouses from other parishes. It is noteworthy that Farnborough became popular for marriages of individuals from Tonbridge,presumably because it was a point for changing horses for coach services.
The size of the settlement in Farnbough does not appear to alter if the number of entries per year is compared through the register and the population appears modest. The traveller population is reflected and deaths of unnamed strangers suggest the village was travelled through by carts and coaches as well as others.
My completed transcript will appear in due course at Kent Online Parish Clerks Farnborough page previously quoted and linked.

© Henry Mantell Downe Online Parish Clerk 2013-2018