Court is my wife Susan's maiden name, and is of French (Norman) origin, introduced to Britain at the time of the Conquest, and has many variations. Courts are still common in Kent (especially Canterbury district), and it is from there that the Court families in this genealogy originate. Most came from southern Kent, from villages to the north and west of Dover, and latterly from the Saltwood area.

The Court's connections to earlier generations are (at present) through the NORTHWOOD/NORTHWODE/NORWOOD families of north Kent (Faversham, Milton and Isle of Sheppey). Roger de Northwode (1307-1361) was my wife's 19G grandfather, and his grandfather was William GRANDISON, who was also my 19G grandfather. This makes my wife and I 20th cousins twice removed. A great many British families are connected in similar ways, mostly in the 12th-15th centuries.

The Courts may have a tantalsing connection to some of the more unsavoury characters in Kent history - the Kingsmills of the infamous smuggling  Hawkhurst Gang. Although we have traced the Kingsmills back to the early 16th century, there is no proven connection to Thomas Kingsmill, executed with others for hideous crimes at Tyburn in 1749. Given the connections my family has to smuggling (i.e. Roger Ridout), and that the Hawkhurst Gang were active as far west as Poole (Dorset), I have wondered if the two groups ever worked together.

Saltwood Castle, Kent1

1    © John Nash