Welcome to the website of the Plaxtol Local History Group

COMING SOON    

  • Tuesday 14th February 2012, 8pm - IGHTHAM PAST AND PRESENT, a talk by Jean Stirk and David Williams
  • Tuesday 13th March 2012, 8pm -THE CRAFT OF THE COOPER, a talk by Richard Filmer
  • 1 APRIL 2012 - MEMBERSHIP SUBSCRIPTIONS ARE DUE - £7
 FIND YOUR PLAXTOL ANCESTORS, OR WHO LIVED IN YOUR PLAXTOL HOUSE - for only £10 each (post & packing extra), you can buy our searchable CDs with details of all the thousands of entries:
  • of baptisms, marriages and burials in PLAXTOL PARISH REGISTERS from 1648 to 1931 or
  • in the 10-yearly PLAXTOL CENSUSES from 1841 to 1901.
For more details, please see Books etc.

NOW AVAILABLE  - our latest publications on various aspects of the history of Victorian Plaxtol - only £5.00 each (post & packing extra):

  • "MILL LIFE IN VICTORIAN PLAXTOL" by Vanessa Dussek (NEW!!!! - AVAILABLE NOW)
  • "SCHOOL LIFE IN VICTORIAN PLAXTOL" by Tom Hogg

  • "BEERHOUSES AND INNS OF VICTORIAN PLAXTOL" by Haydn Puleston Jones and

  • "CHURCH LIFE IN VICTORIAN PLAXTOL" by Haydn Puleston Jones
 For more details, please see Books etc.            
Plaxtol Parish Church by Pip Perry. This is one of only three churches in England built during the Interregnum, 1649-60 and bears no Saint's name. 
Plaxtol Local History Group aims to help us all to understand and enjoy aspects of our village and parish history and that of the surrounding areas - from the houses and architecture to the people, their livelihoods and the landscape.  We do this through our lectures, special projects, publications and occasional exhibitions.

Each year we have a programme of monthly lectures - when members and non-members are welcome (see our 2011 programme), plus visits each year to places of interest. Lectures naturally focus on the history of this area and examples of subjects recently covered include: 

Roman Plaxtol, Kentish Place Names, Houses and People of Tudor Plaxtol, The Pilgrims Way, Iron Making in the Weald, The Kentish Parish, The American Connection with Ightham Mote

Regular lectures are only one aspect of our commitment to local history. The Group is actively involved in projects: for example, a recent major undertaking has been the transcription and compilation onto databases and two CDs of the original Plaxtol census reports from 1841 to 1901 and of Plaxtol Parish Registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from 1648 to 1931. 

From time to time, the Group researches various aspects of Plaxtol history, publishing the results of the rearch in books and booklets. We are currently working on a series of publications on various aspects of Plaxtol's history in Victorian times. For details of our publications and how to buy them, see Books etc. For our publications and exhibitions, we are able to use the significant resources of our archive of documents, photos and artefacts.

The Plaxtol Local History Group embraces the past with enthusiasm.  Surrounded as we are by change and development, especially here in the South East, local history gives us all an understanding and enjoyment of what our part of the world used to be like and how and why it has come to be the place we live in today. 

Do join us - you could find our activities as stimulating as we do.

Rosemary Foster, Chairman                                             

Plaxtol Local History Group is a registered charity (Registered Number 294317).                 #Top