The Centre for Kentish Studies was a combined

county record office In the United Kingdom (and particularly in England and Wales) the term county record office usually refers to a local authority repository, also called a county archives. Such repositories employ specialist staff to administer and conserve the h ...

and local studies library, based for many years at the County Hall,

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, UK. The original

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or ...

repository, known as the Kent Archives Office, was first established by

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

in 1933, placing it amongst the earliest local authority record offices in England. It merged with the county's local studies library in 1990 and the enlarged unit thereafter adopted the new name.Janet Foster & Julia Sheppard, ''British Archives'', 3rd edition, 1995, The centre was recognised by the

Lord Chancellor The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. The ...

for holding official public records. It had also been designated a

diocesan record office Originally within the United Kingdom the title of diocesan record office would frequently have referred to a church-owned diocesan registry or chancery. This would have been where the episcopal registers, administrative papers and title deeds were ...

, serving the two dioceses of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

and

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

(

archdeaconry An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...

of Maidstone). Over the ensuing years it acquired further administrative links with the

Canterbury Cathedral Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England. It forms part of a World Heritage Site. It is the cathedral of the Archbishop of Canterbury, currently Justin Welby, leader of the ...

Library and with branch record offices in

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2001 it had a population of about 40,000. In 2011, according to t ...

and

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

. The centre closed in November 2011 prior to relocation in a new purpose-built headquarters at James Whatman Way, Maidstone, opening in Spring 2012 and thereafter to operate under another new title – the

Kent History and Library Centre The Kent History and Library Centre is a purpose-built headquarters in James Whatman Way, Maidstone, that opened on 23 April 2012. It has been designed to incorporate under one roof the former Centre for Kentish Studies (the combined county recor ...

(additionally accommodating the county's Central Library). The new arrangements also involved the closure and absorption of the former East Kent Archives Centre in Dover. Besides holding the usual local authority archives and ecclesiastical

parish registers A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

, the numerous other major collections include political and estate papers of the Earls of Guildford, the Stanhope of Chevening papers, and papers of the Talbot and Stuart-Wortley families.

References

External links

*http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/archon/searches/locresult_details.asp?LR=51 National Archives: Archon directory entry for Centre of Kentish Studies] (with contact details)
Kent Archives Service online catalogue
{{coord, 51.2785, 0.5221, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Archives in Kent