Our reference library at the Fleur de Lis museum is open on Fridays, from 11am to 1pm.

This varied library of books about Faversham, the nearby villages and wider aspects of Kent has been collected over many years, mainly from donations by local people and members of the Faversham Society.

If you’re interested in what happened at archaeological digs, in buildings in the town and the people who lived and worked here, the gunpowder industry, nature in the marshes, Faversham Abbey, or anything else related to the town’s history you are welcome to come in and browse.

You can find the new library reading room at the back of the exhibition gallery in the museum. It is open on Fridays from 11am to 1pm, or by appointment. We have a new online catalogue at https://favershamsociety.slls.online/ where you will be able to search the growing collection, as our volunteer cataloguers add the books to it.

Contact the librarian, Jacqueline Spencer, on library@favershamsociety.org if you’d like to know more.

Arthur Percival

Arthur Percival was a resident of Faversham from 1956 to his death in 2014. He was fascinated by the town and it's history. He left a massive archive of material to the Faversham Society, which is currently stored at our Fleur de Lis Museum. The archive comprises different types of resources including, photographic, digital, and paper records. A small team of volunteers is working through sorting, classifying and digitising as required. https://www.arthurpercivalarchive.co.uk/ 

Our Archives

At present, the Museum’s collections can be divided into the following subject areas:

General social history
c. 5,000 items including items from domestic and personal life, various industries: railways, brewing, explosives, shipbuilding, agriculture (especially hops), as well as wartime/military items.

Costume
c. 1,000 items. Large amount of costume from 1900’s. Collection also includes a Polonaise Dress (18th century) and a court dress from the late 19th century

Photographic collection
c. 5,000 photographs, also glass negatives, slides, cameras, magic lantern projectors etc; Crosoer Slides (important collection of hand-coloured lantern slides taken by the Crosoer brothers - extensive photography around Faversham from 1890-1910); also movie archive with some digitized films. Also projectors, inc rare 3-D projector.

Coins and medals
Large general collection, including locally important explosives medals (awarded following the large explosion in 1916).

Sound and telecommunications
Oral history recordings, old records, audio equipment including a collection of radios, a Strowger telephone exchange (relay driven, still working and connected to the museum’s internal phone and used by visitors), old switchboard.

Archaeology
Local archaeology, but including important material from Faversham Abbey; collection also includes archaeological human remains. To find out more go to the FSARG website

Fine art
A mixed collection thematically; framed and unframed works

Decorative art
General items of royal and local memorabilia but includes an important collection of Osborne Ivorex Plaques (manufactured in Faversham)

Maps & Plans
Large collection of maps and plans relating to the Faversham area and its buildings.

Large objects
Georgian Shop Front (moved from the Market Place via America!) in the Garden. Two red telephone boxes.

Archives
Archives hold over c.50,000 items:

The Main document archive contains unique documents including wills, deeds and other locally important documents. There are also reference and Ephemera collections. The smaller Subsidiary archives include several local topics such as

• Anna Essinger and Bunce Court
• Abbey Street Collection
• Arden
• Brewery
• Brickmaking
• Church Magazines & Newsletters
• Cricket
• Faversham Scouting
• Faversham Society Papers
• Faversham Boro archives
• Gunpowder
• Huguenot
• Legal Documents
• Local Schools
• Magazines (Local History)
• Maritime
• Newspapers
• Pollocks (Ship builders)
• Posters
• Prints and Drawings
• Railways Archive
• St Mary of Charity
• Sheet Music
• Drawings
• Magazines (Local History)
• Newspapers
• Posters
• Faversham Maritime Archive
• Explosives Archive
• Railways Archive
• Brick-making Archive
• Brewery Archive
• Local Schools Archive
• Church Magazines and Newsletters
• Faversham Town Council Minutes
• Swale Council / KCC Material

Tracing your Family History

We may be able to help you with some of your family history enquiries. We have extensive records for people who lived and worked in Faversham, and we are starting to put some of this information online for everyone to access for free.

Gunpowder Workers

Many Faversham people were involved in working at one of the many gunpowder factories around the town. Our dedicated volunteers, especially John Breeze, have built up a database of information on those who worked in Faversham's important explosives industry. Information stored includes transcriptions from census entries as well as parish records of birth, marriage and death. Also, burial information and extracts from town directories and Faversham Newspapers.

Use the following link to explore this database, where you can search by name and filter on dates of birth and death, to find previously unpublished information about your relatives

Gunpowder Workers Database

We’ve had a great response to this data being online, here is additional information on some of the Gunpowder Workers, supplied by their descendants:

BODEKER Alfred - 1860 to 1920

BODEKER Ann GREGORY - 1855 to 1921

BODEKER Charles Horatio - 1892 to 1949

GREGORY Ann RUCK - 1824 to 1885

KEARN, Henry - 1853 to ?

WISE, Harold - 1892 to 1916

We also have another Faversham Paper that is free to download FP 84 - Faversham Gunpowder Personnel Register This is a compilation of information for Gunpowder Workers from 1573 up to 1840. Unfortunately not searchable, but they are listed in alphabetical order, it usually details where they worked and what they did and if you are lucky, quite a lot more too.

Biographical Registers

Information has been collected for many prominent Faversham townspeople, dating from 1100 to 1650. This was previously published as Faversham Paper 56 but has now been uploaded to browse for free. It’s not searchable, but names are in alphabetical order to make browsing simpler.

Names A to C ................... Names D to H .................... Names I to O .................... Names P to Y

Exiles

We have a couple of Faversham Papers that tell the fascinating and sad stories of some of the Faversham folk who were sent to Australia as convicts in the mid 19th century, often for very minor crimes. They are available for you to download for free FP 49 - Faversham's Reluctant Exiles and FP 66 - More of Faversham's Reluctant Exiles!

Other family research

We do not hold copies of registers of Census returns, but we do have a very large collection of references from various sources, from the 16th century onwards. We also have some Faversham Papers that might help you with your research. One details life in the Workhouses of Selling, Faversham and Blean. It is available to buy here FP 126 - Paupers in the Family

There are some older Faversham Papers available to download for FREE too. FP 28 - The Faversham Poor in the 18th and 19th century and FP 80 - Faversham Union Workhouse Both detail life in the workhouse and have details of some of the unfortunate residents.

Our information covers Faversham and the parishes of Baddlesmere, Boughton-under-Blean, The Brents, Buckland-by-Faversham, Davington, Doddington, Dunkirk, Eastling, Goodnestone-next-Faversham, Graveney, Hernhill, Leaveland, Luddenham, Lynsted, Newnham, Norton, Oare, Ospringe, Otterden, Preston-next-Faversham, Selling, Sheldwich, Stalisfield, Stone-by-Faversham, Teynham, Throwley and Wychling.

Please feel free to email us with your family research and history enquiries fleurmuseum@favershamsociety.org