Find your ancestors in North West Kent FHS Marriages

Find your ancestors’ marriage records, centuries before civil registrations. You will discover your relatives’ wedding day and church. The collection includes over 12,000 marriages between the years 1686 and 1997 from Bromley, Darenth, Longfield, Westerham and Greenwich. Up until 1899 Greenwich was a part of the County of Kent until the County of London was created.

Each record includes a transcript of the original marriage documents. Throughout the years the amount of information recorded has changed and documents are not always legible, for those reasons the details in each transcript may vary but most will include:

• Name
• Bride’s name
• Groom’s name
• Marriage date
• Church
• Place
• Bride’s marital status
• Groom’s marital status
• By Banns or licence
• County
• Country
• Notes
• Record set

Discover more about these records

Included in the transcripts is a field to describe whether your relatives were married by licence or by Banns. Marriage licences were created in the 14th century. Couples could obtain a marriage licence for a fee if they wished to waive the Bann period. Banns were announcements made in the church on three separate Sundays during the three months leading up to the wedding day. The announcements were made to give the congregation an opportunity to voice any objection to the marriage. Along with a marriage licence fee, the couples were obligated to sign a declaration stating that there were not lawful impediments to their marriage. There are different reasons why couples married by licence instead of by Bann; they may have wanted to get married quickly, they may have wanted to show that they could pay for a licence or the couple was getting married away from home.