St. Mary Cray

"The Crays are four highly respectable villages and parishes cintiguous to each other, situated in the lathe of Sutton-at-Hone, Hundred of Ruxley, and Union of Bromley, on the banks of the river Cray, in a beautiful and diversified country, interspersed with numerous elegant seats and noble mansions. In St Mary Cray there are two Independent and one Wesleyan chapel, a literary Institute and reading rooms, in which lectures are frequently delivered. St. Mary Cray had formerly a market, but it was discontinued in 1703, when the market house was blown down. On the River Cray are several paper mills, which employ a number of persons of both sexes. Each of the Crays has its parish church, but there is not anything remarkable about either of these edifices."  1852 directory

Administrative Units

St. Mary Cray fell within the Hundred of Ruxley. Its 19th century Registration District & Poor Law Union was Bromley.
Probate Jurisdiction was Shoreham to 1845, PCC 1846-57.

St Mary Cray included part of the settlement of Crockenhill.

Census Publications

• 1851 Name Index and Page Images published on CD-Rom as part of CD7 (Bromley Registration District).
• 1851 Name Index (only) published on microfiche as part of Volume I (Bromley Registration District).
• 1891 Transcript published on CD-Rom as part of CD2 (Bromley Registration District).

For ordering details see Census Publications.

Churches and Chapels (pre-1910)

Church of England

• St Mary the Virgin (Ancient Parish church) 

Roman Catholic

• St Joseph High St.

Baptist

1. Baptist:   (1869-pre.1928). No information on registers
2. Baptist: Zion.  (1887-pre.1928). No information on registers

Independent/Congregational

• Congregational: The Temple, High St.  (1851). No information on registers