There are a number of websites where you can find information about Horton Kirby and South Darenth without having to pay a subscription or per view fees.

Parish Registers of St. Mary’s Church – these are now available online via Medway CityArk, which holds the archives of the Diocese of Rochester.

Baptisms: 1684 – 1914 (baptisms from 1914 have recently been removed from the website to protect privacy).

Marriages: 1754 – 1940 (marriages from 1940 have recently been removed from the website to protect privacy, although most of the WWII entries were illegible anyway)

Burials: 1671 – 1914

Monumental Inscriptions – the Kent Archaeology Society has a partial list of Monumental Inscriptions available online

Maps – the National Library of Scotland has recently digitised a series of Ordinance Survey Maps from the 1st editions until the 1960s. They have included the 25 inch to the mile series as well as the 6in to the mile series and so provide a good overview about the development of the villages from 1895 to 1950. To search by County, you should click on Kent XVII NE and Kent XVII NW.

Old Maps Online is also worth looking at, as it pulls maps from online libraries and archives globally, and it is simple to search by place name.

History – Edward Hasted, who was a noted 18th century Kent Historian, lived at St John’s Jerusalem, in Sutton at Hone and wrote The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent. British History Online has the entry for Horton Kirby and South Darenth available online.

Historical Directories – the University of Leicester have made their collection of Directories available online and you can search it to find references to Horton Kirby.

The Farningham Home for Little Boys – the Old Boys Association has its own website with some information and a very good picture gallery.  The Children’s Homes website has a history of the Homes, more pictures as well as a general history of children’s homes.