Halstead Saint Margaret Kent

To trace the history of the parish of Halstead one has to consider the now demolished Halstead Place which was lost in 1952 due to dereliction see  Lost Heritage It is believed that on this site was an Anglo-Saxon church which was replaced in the 13th century by what was a chapel for Halstead Place. The parish was a small and poor one; the living for a priest was much smaller than Chevening Otford or Shoreham nearby. The old church remained until it was pulled down in 1880/1881. It's remaining ruined walls and burial ground are a scheduled ancient Monument see ancientmonuments website.
My transcript of the burial register for Saint Margaret 1813-1920 for Kent Online Parish Clerks therefore includes burials in the old churchyard which still has gravestones standing. The stones are not scheduled but the ground beneath them is. In 1855 a new graveyard was consecrated and a burial chapel was built. In 1880/1 the chapel was extended to form the  present church which formed the burial ground from 1855. Leland Duncan noted Monumental Inscriptions 4 August 1919 and recorded that the old ground at Halstead Place was in very poor condition. His notes are valuable at Kent Archeological Society.
Marriages which took place in the parish church were taking place in a building which had no rights for Church marriage due to a failure to transfer that right from the Ancient Parish church. 119 Marriages which took place until 1919 were technically invalid rendering many of the population of Halstead illegitimate. This was resolved by a 1920 Act of Parliament which validated these marriages and licensed the church for marriages.

The Kent Churches video captures the history and images of the churchyard and 1881 building which retains several features from the older building.
Halstead was a strawberry growing area which attracted traveller families and seasonal workers also to the hop yards. Although on top of the North Downs it lay adjacent to the Pilgrims Way. The burial register reflects deaths amongst seasonal workers and traveller families.
The author Edith Nesbit lived at Halstead Hall for three years in 1870's when she was a child. She liked to sit on the banks of the railway line and watch the digging of the long tunnels for the railway line. Halstead station was renamed Knockholt station after confusion arose with Halstead in Essex. These childhood memories and recollection of the railway building were to form themes in her classic novel "The Railway Children". Although the burial register records many accidental deaths and a murder victim there appear to have been no railway fatalities in the construction.
The "new" burial ground was soon fully occupied  and an extension was needed;the register starts to record how may graves were full systematically to make the case. There is an entry which records the dedication by the Bishop of Rochester of the extension on 20 November 1914.
My transcript of part of the complete register 1813-1929 is the first transcript for the parish page at Kent Online Parish Clerks for the years 1813-1820 due to international privacy laws publication of the remaining years will be held until 2029.

© Henry Mantell Downe and Farnborough Online Parish Clerk 2013-2020