I receive many requests for
information about records held at Seal. Almost all records of
baptism, marriages and burials, except the most recent (see
below) have now been transferred to the
Kent
History
and Library Centre in Maidstone, where they can be
consulted by the public. However if you are tracing your
family history and think an ancestor may have had a Seal
connection I will be happy to help you if I can. As a
part-time priest here, and with no other paid staff and a very
full workload, there are limits on the time I can give
to this, though, so I would ask your co-operation and
understanding. I am entitled to make a charge for time spent
searching records or helping you to search, which goes to
church funds, of £21 for each hour or part of an hour.
If you are planning a trip to search for an ancestor, and
might want access to records kept here,
PLEASE contact me in
advance to arrange a convenient time, otherwise you may find
that no one is available to help you, and you will have wasted
your journey. In particular I would advise against just
turning up just before or after a Sunday service - I often
have a great deal to do at this point (and possibly other
services to conduct) and I will not be able to help you, nor
will I be able to let you look at the records in my absence.
While I do not wish to seem unhelpful, if it is at all
possible for you to consult with records at the record office
instead, I would
greatly
prefer that you did so.
We have a number of transcripts of older records and other
historical information available at the back of church, near
the font, including some on the church's history and the story
of the
submarine HMS Seal, with which the church had a long
association. You are welcome to browse these whenever the
church is open (usually between about 9.30 and 5) but please
do not take any of the material away.
We hold the following records at Seal - others are held at the
Kent
History
and Library Centre in Maidstone. There are also some
transcripts and microfiche records of documents at Sevenoaks
library. More details of local history archives can be found
here.
Records held at St Peter and
St Paul: (older records are transcripts only)
Registers of Baptisms
1965- present
Registers of Marriage
1985- present
Registers of Burial
1924- present
Registers of Confirmation 1913 - present
Registers of Banns
2000- present
ONLINE RECORDS
Records
of baptisms, marriages and burials at SEAL in
spreadsheet form from 1561 to twentieth century are
here.
N.B there are no locations of burials
in these records.
Records of baptisms,
marriages and burials at KEMSING in spreadsheet form
are here.
N.B there are no locations of
burials in these records.
Many thanks to David Williams and Val Brown who have
laboured long to provide this invaluable resource.
Tip: there are a number of different pages in this
spreadsheet.
Click on the tabs at the bottom of the page to select
Baptism, Marriage, Burial etc.
I suggest you start with the tab titled "introduction"
There is also an index to all the surnames in the record
which will help if you are looking for a particular
family.
Inscriptions
The inscriptions on memorials in the churchyard were recorded
by Leland Duncan in 1921 and can be found on the
Kent
Archaeological
Society website, along with a
sketch
map he made at the time. (Please note that this only
records inscriptions on headstones, not the many burials for
which there were never headstones put up. To find out about
these you would have to consult with the burial registers.)
Burials
Newer burials and interments of ashes are listed here - These
records do include some information about location of graves,
but it isn't always obvious where they are. If you are hoping
to locate a grave and think that you might need some help,
please contact me well in advance so that we can find a time
when I can meet with you to show you the location. It is very
unlikely that anyone will be able to help you to locate a
grave at short notice.
Graveyard
North
East of Church (Mostly 1930s to
1960s)
North
West
of
Church (Mostly 1960s to 2006)
Interments
of
Ashes (Mostly 1980's onward, though
some ashes are interred in full sized graves, so you may need
to check the other registers.)
Baptisms
1938 - 1964
(edited to remove some details in accordance with the advice
of the Information Commissioner for Data Protection.)
Other local churches
Until the 1874 St Peter and St Paul was linked
with
St
Mary, Kemsing . A record of older headstones in
the graveyard can be found
here.
If
you are unable to find the information you seek at Seal, it
may be that your ancestors were buried, married or baptised at
Kemsing. You may also like to try
St
Margaret's
Underriver and
St Lawrence, Seal.
C.R. Ashbee, the Arts and Crafts movement and Seal Church.
Charles
Robert Ashbee , a significant figure in the
Arts and Crafts movement , was church architect at
Seal Church for many years. He lived in Godden Green, and his
wife's family, the Forbes, had a long association with the
church. Ashbee is buried in Seal churchyard in a family grave
with a headstone designed by him, seen here in the snow. There
is a memorial tablet to him inside the church, behind the
font.
The
Long Shadow. Seal family memories of WW1 can be
found here. This collection came out of a project to gather
stories of the shadow WW1 had cast on families for Remembrance
1914.
All
This Music Making. History of Seal Church music,
by Madeleine Eatell
Church
trail, with historical information for adults
and for children.