Apologies for those on the SOG mailing list, as this will be a cross-posting for you; just received today:
NEW ON-LINE DATABASE OF KENT WILLS
When antiquarian and historian Leland Lewis Duncan of the Kent Archaeological Society died in 1923 his lifetime's work, including handwritten lists and transcriptions of Wills of Kent residents and landowners who lived in medieval and Tudor times, was deposited in the society's library at Maidstone Museum.
For 80 years local and family historians could inspect this invaluable resource only by visiting the library. Now, a team of volunteers - Margaret Broomfield, Dawn Weeks, Zena Bamping and Pat Tritton - is completing the task of transcribing Duncan's records for the society's website, from which they can be downloaded free of charge.
Duncan's records were written in 61 exercise books and bound quarto books, most of which survive. Their 2,188 entries were originally indexed by parish by the Vicar of East Peckham in 1934.
The records are now on a database which has two indexes. One enables the surnames of testators to found and is convenient for family historians. The other, for the benefit of local historians, lists the areas, parishes or dioceses in which the testators lived or owned land.
The areas include boroughs which were once part of Kent but are now within Greater London.
Links alongside the entries allow any of the Wills that have been transcribed to be viewed 'with one click'.
To access the Wills visit the Research section at
http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk
