Researching Family History & Buildings

Requests for information:
Please note that the Halling Historical Society is unable to provide information beyond that
already available on its web-site, nor can it undertake specific research for individuals.
The local Halling Facebook page “Old Pictures Of Halling”
(https://www.facebook.com/groups/201454119888329) has many old photographs of
Halling along with related information. It also has a very helpful membership, many of whom
have lived in the local area for a long time. By joining the group you may be able to post
inquiries regarding places or individuals in the Halling area.
Family records (births/baptisms, marriages, deaths etc), census details, army records and old
newspaper articles can be found on sites such as FindMyPast or Ancestry.co.uk.
Most local libraries have agreements with these providers that allow you to look at their
records on library computers without having to pay a subscription. You may have to set up an
account with them (linked to an e-mail address) while on a library computer but that costs
nothing and once you’ve set it up you can use it all the time.
Using the search engines takes a bit of practice and a certain degree of persistence to make
things tie up sometimes – especially where people have ‘common’ surnames like Smith or
Brown!
Local area records such as old estate and tithe maps and school registers tend to be specific to
local archive centres however. For records related to the Halling area, we recommend
contacting the Medway Archives Centre, either in person or on line. The archive staff are
exceptionally knowledgeable and helpful and may well be able to assist you in your search for
information.
Some Halling records are also held by the Kent Archives Centre at Maidstone - the online
search engine will allow you to find the titles of available records.
Another source of local information are the journals and records of the Kent Archaeological
Society.