The Society is only able to undertake limited research in its Archives. Requests for research should be made initially through the form below giving as much detail as possible. Our Archivist will then contact you. We cannot guarantee we will find what you are looking for.
- Home
- About us
- History
- Introduction to Leigh
- Beating the bounds in Leigh
- Bell Ringing in Leigh
- Cinder Hill and Iron
- Oak Tree on the Green
- Place Names in Leigh and other parts of Kent
- Jutish Forest (ca 500AD-1350AD)
- At the end of the last Millennium
- Leigh before the Normans – pre1066
- King Harold on his Way to Hastings: 1066
- Leigh authorizes creation of separate Parish of Bidborough 1219
- Leigh Man in Rebellion against King Edward (1320s)
- Roads: Three Years and Still the Road is not Repaired – local people complain!
- Wealden Iron Industry: ca1400-1760
- Did Leigh People see Shakespeare? (ca 1600)
- Catching the Post – ca. 1550s-1900
- Flooding – Leigh and Medway: from 1600 to present
- Navigation of the Medway 1500-1840
- 1661: Lady Anne Sidney marries Leigh’s Vicar, the Rev. Joseph Carte
- Leigh Parish Registers
- Shingle and Bear (sic): Leigh Churchwardens Accounts 1737-1740
- Streatfeild Ledger Stone in the Nave of Leigh Church
- Crime in the Village, 1796
- Dr Robert Moffat 1795-1883
- Leigh’s Three Windmills: 1820s-1960s
- A hundred years of Leigh squirearchy: 1809-1886
- Architect in Leigh: George Frederick Bodley (b. 1827-1907)
- George Devey, Victorian architect, 1820-1886
- Building of the South Eastern Railway track through Leigh 1840
- What was Leigh like in 1840 – and what might you have been doing?
- Tithe schedule: 1840
- Canadian Red Indians, Shakers and Leigh, 1860
- Hall Place Gardens in the last quarter of the 19th century
- The Great Flood, 1880
- Band of Hope – ca 1880-1900
- Winter in Leigh 1879
- Hall Place Gifts to Workers: 1880s-1945
- Census and Cricketers in the Leigh Area: 1881
- Diamond Jubilee celebration, 1897
- Shocking Railway Accident in 1898
- Leigh Village Policemen – 1900-1990
- Killed by Lightning c1905
- Church Parades, 9 June 1907
- Coronation of King George V, 1911
- Chiddingstone Causeway War Memorial: 1918
- Diary of an unknown man, 1904-1939 – named as Fred Eade
- First World War – Half Time …
- Leigh War Memorial: 1918 and 1945
- William Henry Bamblett
- Horace Batchelor
- Sidney Batchelor
- Edward Robert Bickersteth
- Jack Brooker
- Reginald Lewis Brooker
- Charles Bourner
- Frank Bourner
- James William Bourner
- Leslie Albert Chandler
- John Albert Thomas Curtis
- James Gordon Davies
- James Charles Davis
- Victor George Ready (Everest)
- John Everest
- Sidney Everest
- Frank Faircloth
- Anthony Lacon De Mallet Flower
- Eric Gordon Fraser
- Frank Garner
- Frederick Healey
- Sidney James Leonard Horan
- Harry Horsey
- Leslie Walter Cyril Humphrey
- Albert George Janman
- Frank Arthur Killick
- Tim Lee – coal merchant
- G. Mitchell
- Charles George Henry Nixon
- Gilbert Nixon
- F. Parker
- Philip Walter Patching
- Sidney Pocock
- Charles Robinson
- Hubert Leslie Russell
- Arthur Harry Murray Schofield
- William Arthur Smith
- James Taylor
- Albert Towner
- William James Upton
- Herbert Upton
- Roland Alfred Woodgate
- Ernest Mark Young (Mark Young)
- Godfrey Valentine Brooke Hine
- Circuses and Funfairs in Leigh 1920s-1970s
- Mummers’ Plays and Leigh ca 1930s
- Leigh Playhouse – 1930s
- Memories of Leigh Bakery and Chapel, 1927-1939
- Fire at Hall Place – 28 November 1940
- Leigh in the War 1939-45
- Memories of a Leigh Evacuee – Gladys Hale
- Memories of a Leigh evacuee – Tony Scragg
- Evacuees in Leigh: Village Guests
- Memories of Leigh during World War 2 by David Walters
- Second World War events, by Bernie ‘Butch’ Baker
- The Messerschmidt that surrendered in Leigh
- The Battle of Britain and Penshurst Airfield
- 1940 and the Pillboxes around Leigh
- Leigh’s Iron Cross: 1940
- Telegraph Boy in the 1940s
- Leigh Meals on Wheels 1940s-1980s
- Bakery and chapel-going, by Joyce Juggins (1935-1948)
- Lord Hollenden moves into workshops – 1941
- Do You Remember Dadlems Day?
- The village sign 1951
- A Child at Hall Place
- Village Childhood Fifty Years Ago
- Village Shopping Fifty Years Ago
- Reflections of a Parish Clerk 1956-1984
- Leigh 1952 and 2002
- A Gamekeeper’s Troubles: George Clarke (1955)
- Best Kept Village, 1971
- Silver Jubillee, 1977
- John Parfitt and Papers – from the start of the Historical Society, 1981
- The Princess Christian Farm Colony 1895-1995
- Wild flowers of Leigh (1985)
- French Film Crew Visits Leigh in July 2014
- Family history
- The ANDERSON Family at Home Farm and Charcott
- Gladys AXTELL
- BAILY family of Hall Place
- Lucille BAKER 1948-1959
- BENFIELD family
- BENNETT family
- Dr Ernest BERKLEY
- Harry BLACKFORD – Chauffeur to Dr. Beaufort Fraser
- Charlotte BOURNER
- BROAD family
- BROOKER family
- Clement Bertram BURT
- CHILDREN family
- The CHEESEMAN family
- George CORNELIUS, police constable
- Harold COX (1859-1936)
- CRANDALL family
- Betty CRAWFORD
- Doctors in Leigh
- FAIRCLOTH Family
- Fred EADE
- FARRANT Family
- Harold FARRINGDON – Cricket Ball Maker
- The FITZJOHN family
- Emma GARDNER’s Prize 1901
- Roy Frederick GRANT
- GRAY family
- GREVATT, George William
- GREYLAND children
- HEATH AND HINE FAMILIES
- The HEALY Family
- Bob HINGE – wins flight in Lancaster
- HOBBS – WINTER- STYLES Families of Leigh and Charcott
- Florence HOSTLER
- Thomas HODSON – Leigh Resident in Prison
- Albert Charles HUMPHREY family
- Alfred HOUGHTON
- INGRAM Family
- Noel JEMPSON, Landlord of the Plough
- John KNOCK (Pen Portrait)
- Peter KING: Leigh Blacksmith: 1936-2014
- LUCAS Family
- MAY family
- Thomas MAY’s letter to son 1849
- MAY family letters to Henry May
- MAY Family Tree and Notes
- Deed 4 Feb 1889: Isabella Maria May and Death Certificate
- Indenture Between Thomas May and Samuel Morley: 28 December 1882
- Indenture Between Henry Sturt and Thomas May re Little Lucy’s Farm 1886
- MAY and OLIPHANT connection – who was Isabella Oliphant?
- MAGNUS Family and Porcupine House
- MORGAN sisters
- MORLEY and HICKS of Lealands Avenue
- OLDER, Frank (1918-2006)
- Samuel MORLEY
- Janie van OOSTEROM
- POCOCK Family
- SALES family
- Mrs SELDEN
- SHOEBRIDGE Family
- SIMMONS family
- Bert STUBBINGS (and Argent) Family in Leigh
- STYLES family
- Thomas STURGESS, churchwarden
- Edward TERRY
- Phyllis UPFIELD
- WAITE family
- Octavius WALTON
- WINTER family
- Richard YOUNG – Charge of the Light Brigade Hero from Leigh
- Around the parish and MAPS
- Maps of Leigh and district
- Farm Survey, 1713 – Tyherst and Sinderhill Farms
- Plan showing the Scheme of Drainage of the Village of Leigh, Kent: 1872
- Farm Survey 1767 – Clark’s Farm
- Farm Survey 1767 – Funk’s Farm
- 1870 Ordnance Survey – area around village
- Farm Survey 1819 – Little Kettles Farm
- Penshurst Estate, 1822
- Hasted’s History of Kent, 1778, vol 1 the Somerden Hundred
- Lady Yonge’s Estate, 1758
- Andrew, Drury and Herbert, 1769
- Hasted’s History of Kent, 1778, vol. 2: The Lowry of Tonbridge
- 1801 Ordnance Survey
- 1810 Plan for Proposed Grand Southern Canal
- Greenwoods Map of Kent, 1821
- Powdermills, 1837
- Tithe Map, 1841
- Leigh’s Shops and Trades
- Around the Green
- Barden Cottages
- Church Hill Cottage/s
- Church Hill House
- Cricket Pavilion
- East Lodge
- Elizabeth Cottage
- Forge Square
- Great Boydens – the Row
- Inglenook
- Kennards
- The Oak Cottage, The Green
- Old Chimneys (formerly No 1 and 2 The Green)
- Park House
- Old Wood Cottage
- Pippin Cottage
- Porcupine House
- South View
- Vicarage (Old)
- War Memorial
- Charcott
- Farms and the surrounding area
- Applebys
- Aynho – Powder Mills
- Blackhoath Cottages
- Cinder Hill Farm
- Fosters Farm
- Gales and Greenways Cottages
- Garden Cottages
- Great Barnetts
- Green View Avenue/Lealands Avenue
- Home Farm (known as Clarks Farm until 1856)
- Lightfoots Cottages
- Little Barnetts Farm
- Little Lucy’s Farm
- Meadow Bungalow, off Weir Lane
- Moorden Farm House
- Moorden Cottages
- Oasts in Leigh
- Oldhouse Farm and Old House
- Old School House
- Paul’s Farm
- Price’s Farm
- Ramhurst Farm
- White Cottage (The)
- Wickhurst Farm and Oast
- Woods, The
- Gaza Barracks
- Hall Place
- High Street South Side – East to West; North Side East to West; and Lower Green
- Bombers Cottage
- Chilling House (formerly The Limes)
- El Vanin and Ranmore
- Fleur-de-Lis and Fleur-de-Lis Cottages
- Engineers Cottages
- Institute Cottage
- Oak Cottages, High Street
- Old Bakery (The)
- Old Brickmakers
- Orchard House
- Pear Tree Cottage(s)
- Penshurst Entrance Lodge: Pinnacle/Pepperpot
- Pump Cottage And Pump House
- Rose Cottage
- Saxby Wood
- Square (The)
- Stone House (The) and Park Cottage (formerly 1,2,3 Park Cottages)
- Village Halls (The)
- West Lodge
- Waterworks, Kiln Lane
- Wheelwrights Cottage
- White House (The)
- Institutions, clubs and teams
- Cricket Club
- Football Club
- Golden Years Club
- Hospitals for people in Leigh
- Leigh Coal Fund
- The Leigh Volunteer Fire Brigade
- Leigh Good Intent Benefit Society
- Leigh Institute
- Leigh Nursing Association and Leigh Invalid Comfort Fund
- Leigh Poor and the Leigh Poor House
- Leigh Police and Crime
- Leigh Royal British Legion Table Tennis Club
- Leigh School
- Leigh Scouts – Scouting in Leigh – How it began
- Leigh Womens’ Institute Pram Race 1971
- Leigh Chapel
- St Mary’s Church
- Sermon by Rev Miles: November 2015
- Worship in Leigh 1876–1883
- The Churchyard
- Churchyard Boundaries: repair of the Church Wall after 1987 Storm
- Vicars of Leigh
- Church brasses
- Stained glass
- Leigh Church during the Incumbency of the Rev. Hugh Collum
- Refurbishing the Chancel in 1892
- Monuments in Leigh Church
- Leigh Church – A vicar, why not a Rector?
- St Mary’s Choir (-1934-1984)
- Restoration of Leigh Church 1861
- Four Leigh Vicarages
- North Lodge, Redleaf, Penshurst
- Powder Mills
- Elizabeth I and her Association with Powder Mills
- History of Powder Mills
- Checklist of trees and plants on the Powder Mills site, 2005
- Maps of Powder Mills
- Pictures of Powder Mills
- Powder Mills photos
- People of Powder Mills
- Powder Mills workers, 1930s
- David Benfield, a Powder Mill Family from 1811
- William Ford BURTON
- Noel Jempson, Powder Mill Carpenter and Landlord of the Plough
- A schoolboy’s memories of the Powder Mills 1925-1935
- Powder Mill Workers and Relocation: The Cheeseman Family 1830-1859
- Powder Mill workers and relocation: the Sealy (or Sealey) family
- John Fredrick Herring and Explosions at Leigh Powder Mills
- Tim Lee – Powder Mills lorry driver
- The Swain family
- Southwood – Leigh’s ‘other’ Stately Home
- Maps of Leigh and district
- Photographs and Documents
- Archive
- Archive index
- Burials 1827-1840: of children 5 years and under
- Chapel burials, Leigh Nonconformist Chapel
- Chris Rowley, We had everything: Index
- Deed 4 Feb 1889: Isabella Maria May plus Death Certificate
- Deed 1 August 1913 Exchange of Land and Cottages (South View/corner Green Lane)
- Deed of Redemption: Leigh United Charities etc 1938
- Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of Kent
- Hildenborough Burial Records and www.findagrave.com
- Indenture between Henry Sturt and Thomas May re Little Lucy’s Farm: 1886
- Indenture Between Thomas May and Samuel Morley 1882
- Leigh Parish Registers 1592-1812
- Leigh Workhouse, 1851
- Minutes of the Parish Council (Indexes only) 1894-1979
- Miscellaneous documents in our archive
- Notes on the History of the Parish of Leigh, by Commander F N Stagg, 1946
- Poor House deaths, 1829-40
- Redemption Document re Charity of George Children 1937
- Sale of part of the Penshurst Place Estate 1921
- Vestry Minutes 1823-1844
- Links
- Society events