Down Your Way - Local History in the 1800s at Cliffe, Cooling and High Halstow
This was the title of an exhibition organised by KAS Member Ted Connell at the RSPB Countryside Fair on Saturday 2nd September 2006. The Countryside Fair is an annual event at the RSPB Reserve at Bromhey Farm, Cooling, which this year was celebrating 50 years of conservation in the area. Some 3,000 people visited the Fair on the day.
Members of the Public looking at the KAS display were able to see a copy of the 1839 Tithe Map, showing the field names, owners and occupiers at Bromhey Farm. In addition the names of the occupants of Bromhey and Eastborough Farms were listed from the 1841 to 1901 Censuses. Printouts of the tithe schedules for the parishes of Cliffe, Cooling and High Halstow, together with printouts of the whole of the 1841 and 1851 Censuses, were displayed in ring binders. The exhibition attracted much interest as local residents searched for their house, or the field on which their house now stands. Many people commented that the surnames of the earlier occupants were still common in the area today.
The tithe maps and their accompanying schedules provide an excellent starting point for those interested in finding out more about the local history of their area. Transcriptions of over one hundred and fifty tithe schedules from around Kent can now be consulted on the Society's website at www.kentarchaeology.org.uk Research Section.
