Deal Kent Family History Guide

Deal is an Ancient Parish and a market town in the county of Kent.

Alternative names:

Parish church:

Parish registers begin:

Parish registers: 1559
Bishop’s Transcripts: 1564

Nonconformists include: Calvinist, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, General Baptist, Independent/Congregational, Particular Baptist, Primitive Methodist, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends/Quaker, and Wesleyan Methodist.

Table of Contents

Adjacent Parishes

Great Mongeham
Sholden
Walmer

Parish History

The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales 1870

DEAL, a town, a parish, and a sub-district in Eastry district, Kent. The town stands on the coast, near the southern extremity of the Downs, opposite the Goodwin Sands, at the terminus of a branch of the Southeastern railway, with telegraph, 5 miles SSE of Sandwich.

It may have been the place of Cæsar’s landing 55 years before the Christian era; it was known at Domesday as Addelam; it was the place of Perkin Warbeck’s landing in 1495; it received Anne of Cleves, after her voyage, in 1540; it was attacked by Prince Charles in 1648; it felt an earthquake shock in 1692; and it was the landing-place of Adelaide, the Queen of William IV.

It is a municipal borough, a member of the parliamentary borough and cinque-port-liberty of Sandwich, a bonding port, a coast-guard and pilot station, a seat of petty sessions, and a watering-place. It comprises three parts, Lower, Middle, and Upper; consists chiefly of three long narrow streets, parallel with the beach; and adjoins, on the south, the village of Walmer, the death place of the Duke of Wellington.

Lower Deal contains the bulk of the population; and has a head post office, of the name of Deal. Upper Deal stands on a hill, above Middle Deal; was the original village; and has a post office under Deal.

Deal castle, like the neighbouring ones of Sandown and Walmer, was built by Henry VIII. for defence of the coast; and consists of a central circular keep and four round bastions, with numerous modern additions.

There are a custom-house, a watch-house, and a pilot-house. An assembly-room was erected in 1865. The town-hall, in Lower Deal, is a spacious edifice of 1803; and contains portraits of William III. and William IV.

St. Leonard’s church, in Upper Deal, is an ancient structure, with some Norman fragments. St. George’s church, in Lower Deal, was built in 1715; and is very rude. St. Andrew’s church, in West-street, was built in 1850. The General Baptist Chapel was built, in the time of the Commonwealth, by Samuel Tavernor, governor of the castle. The Independent chapel was built soon after the ejectment of 1662. There are five other dissenting chapels, charities £14, two banking offices, and several chief inns.

Markets are held on Saturdays; and fairs on 6 April and 11 Oct. Two weekly newspapers are published; and a provision trade, sail-making, and boat-building are carried on. A new pier on iron piles, stretching 920 feet out to sea, 20 feet wide generally, but 40 feet wide at the head. with an average depth there of 10 feet at low-water spring tides, and the platform 13 feet above high-water mark, was constructed in 1862 and following years.

The adjacent roadstead of the Downs, sheltered by the Goodwin sands, is a rendezvous of the East India and other fleets. Ten vessels, of aggregately 254 tons, belonged to the port at the beginning of 1863; four, of aggregately 442 tons, entered, in 1858, from foreign countries; 160, of aggregately 12, 549 tons, entered, in 1858, coastwise; and 16, of aggregately 1, 113 tons, entered, in 1862, from foreign countries. The amount of customs in 1858 was £1, 804; in 1867, £2, 706.

The town was chartered by William III.; and made a member of Sandwich parliamentary borough by the Reform act. The municipal borough is conterminate with the parish; and is governed by a mayor, six aldermen, and eighteen councillors. W. Boys, the antiquary, and Mrs. Carter were natives.

The parish comprises 1, 167 acres of land and 50 of water. Real property, £22, 213. Pop., 7, 531. Houses, 1, 589. The property is much subdivided. St. Leonard’s living is a rectory, and St. George and St. Andrew are p. curacies in the diocese of Canterbury. Value of St. Leonard, £429; of St. George, £208; of St. Andrew, not reported. Patron of all, the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The sub-district contains seven parishes and part of another. Acres, 8, 754. Pop., 12, 105. Houses, 2, 304.

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of England & Wales [Wilson, John M]. A. Fullarton & Co. N. d. c. [1870-72].

Parish Records

FamilySearch

Administration

Civil Registration District: Eastry
Probate Court: Court of the Bishop of Canterbury (Episcopal Consistory)
Diocese: Canterbury
Rural Deanery: Pre – 1845 – None, Post-1844 – Sandwich
Poor Law Union: Eastry
Hundred: Bewsborough
Province: Canterbury