these pages are on the Internet.
Originally, when I was living in Canada, I belonged to a local BBS, OGS*Kintracers, which was a great source for the sharing of information between genealogists around the World by "Fidonet" mail. Unfortunately, our local connection to this service had to close but before it did, I was getting quite a number of queries about Kent as I was born there. Therefore, when I obtained some space on the Internet, I thought that it might be an idea to start a site that gave some of this background information for other genealogists who have not been lucky enough to visit this delightful corner of England. It started as a single page and just grew.At first, I decided to concentrate initially on East Kent as I grew up in Canterbury and know most of the locations that I am talking about quite well. In fact, if a place is within a bicycle ride distance from Canterbury, or actually in the City, I hope that it will eventually appear on these pages. Although I do not know as many places in West Kent as well as I do East Kent I am now gradually including some places in West Kent now that I am living in Kent again. I'm sorry if the site doesn't contain the particular information you might be looking for but given time, I will continue to add to the available information
At one point, the site was getting about 10,000 page hits a day and at times the file accesses are huge with requests from about 35 countries around the World each week. However, about a year ago I have to move the site which already consists of many pages and pictures and is a mammoth task. Because of my work as an Web Designer my customers and my income has to come first (If you should need a business site and you live in East kent, please check out my commercial site) which means that it will take time to restore the site completely. This site has never won any "site awards" because unlike other sites, I have not chased any (although it might be nice to receive some recognition for the hours of work eventually. However, a site I do administer for theThe Kent Family History Society recently received the runner-up place in the UK Family History Federation’s Web Awards for 2008). The main purpose of this site is to try and provide information for those unable to visit Kent, to try and help fellow genealogists around the World and for my own enjoyment when I have the available time. I always try to answer my mail (sorry, I know that mail has been unavailable for a while but it will be restored soon) within twenty-four hours but it may take a little longer if real work gets in the way. Just recently I have had to stop reply to mail about individual family names because I just do not have the time to devote to these enquiries. Many of them are very general in nature and at one point I had been receiving up to 300 of these e-mails a month.
Older parts of the site are a little "messy" at the moment and the lay-out and design of sections and pages are often not consistent. The reason for this is that the growth of the site has taken place over nearly fourteen years and Internet design has changed over that period. I still try to maintain the site in such a way that those of you with older browsers can read the information. However, I am currently trying to do a redesign and smarten things up when I have the time. It's rather a case of "do you want smart" or "do you want information"?! I hope you enjoy your visit and please stop back again when you can.
PLEASE NOTE: I have made every effort in these pages not to infringe any copyrights. If I have quoted then I have included the reference. The majority of the writing here is based on my own knowledge and where I have given details of names, dates or places, these are details that are available from original sources such as County Record Offices or Church Archives, including documentation and information from Churches and Churchyards that I believe, are freely available to anyone. Nevertheless, there is also no argument that our knowledge is always enhanced by other books and material. In this regard, I benefited greatly from the detail contained in the books listed on the "Books and Sources" page and these books have been of particular assistance when I have been trying to place events in their proper chronological sequence. I strongly recommend that anyone who has a real interest in Kent and smuggling obtain copies of the books detailed on this site which give really extensive histories of the area, "The Trade" and provide more detail than I am able to supply. At the same time, I am claiming copyright of these pages and the material included. Should anyone want to use information that I have included then my agreement will not be unreasonably withheld but I would like to know where it might be appearing. Thank you.
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Page last updated: 10 April 2009