Hoo St Werburgh is one of the villages on the Hoo Peninsula to bear the name Hoo, meaning ‘spur of land’, and is featured in the Domesday Book as Hoe.

St. Werburgh, born between 640 and 650 AD was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia, and niece of King Æthelred, his brother and successor. She was the granddaughter of Ercombert, King of Kent whose wife Sexburga was Abbess of Minster in Sheppey.

Although historically and mostly referred to as Hoo, in 1955, the Parish Council, during a revision of the Ordnance Survey map of the area, requested that Hoo should be shown as ‘Hoo St Werburgh’. The Parish Council formally submitted an application in February 1968, under Section 147(4) of the Local Government Act 1933, for the name of the civil parish to be changed to ‘Hoo St Werburgh’. In response, the County Council presented a change of name document which ordered and declared that with effect from the first day of October 1968, and until further order, the name of the civil parish shall be Hoo St Werburgh.

The Five Bells from a post-card, date unknown. It is believed that the pub dates back to around 1715.

In 1869-70 the pub was part of a consortium who was advertising their goods of selling tea in response to grocers’ selling beer and wine.

The fort is a nineteenth-century military installation on the River Medway that formed part of the defences of Chatham Naval Dockyard. Hoo Fort, like Fort Darnet, 1 km (0.6 mi) downstream was built on the recommendations of the 1859 Royal Commission.

Hoo Fort is located on Hoo Island in Pinup Reach, the inner navigable channel of the River Medway. Hoo Island sits to the south of the Hoo Peninsula and is within the parish of Hoo.

History

Originally designed for two tiers of guns mounted in a circle, with a boom strung between Hoo Fort and Fort Darnet, there were many problems with subsidence, and after extensive cost overruns the forts were completed in 1871 with a single tier of eleven 9-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, and no boom. Each gun was mounted in an individual casemate with heavily armoured firing port.

The forts were decommissioned before the First World War. In the Second World War, the fort was used as an observation post, with platforms and pillboxes built on top. The fort is still in fair condition. It is a Scheduled Monument and is owned by Medway Ports.

Most records agree that the building of the present church was commenced in the 12th century enlarged over the next two centuries which included the addition of the tower. In the foreground is the tomb of Richard Everist. a wealthy local farmer, dating from 1830, which includes the entrance to the family vault on the far side.

In the Sanctuary of the church is a small figure of the Saint with a goose at her feet. Her Festival Day is 3rd   February, the reputed day of her death.

The spire is covered with shingles and is in the region of 60ft.in height with a further 7ft. from its summit to the ball, it is set on a battlemented tower of 55ft. in height, making a total of 127ft. The top of the tower can be reached by a staircase turret set in its north-west comer. The old stone walls of the church are built of Kentish rag stone.

The spire was once used as a landmark for ships sailing up the River |Medway.

The southern parapet of the church is battlemented along its whole length, but the only portion of the north side which remains so is the parapet over the porch. As there are battlements on the south side facing the river and none on the north, they may well have been used as a defence against marauders sailing up the Medway.

The entrance to the church is now from the north side. There was at one time another entrance from the south but that has been bricked up.

.There is a book called ‘The Hoo Peninsula’, written by local historian Philip MacDougall in 1980, which mentions Phoenician artefacts being found in Hoo and Higham.

This book states the following:

"During pre-historic times Hoo St. Werburgh was probably a fairly important settlement. The discovery of a Phoenician coin at a point just south of the present village also suggests that Hoo may also have been a small trading centre. The coin was discovered in 1903 and is said to be a drachma dating from the reign of Philip of Macedon. This particular King will probably be better recalled if one remembers that he was the father of Alexander the Great.

The importance of the coin demonstrates that Kent had trading links with the Phoenicians, traders who ranged far and wide bringing with them such saleable commodities as silver, high quality pottery and wines. Perhaps, indeed, it was the Phoenicians who brought the imported pots found near Cliffe.

It should be pointed out that these pottery fragments do not come from so far east, but would have been collected by the Phoenicians on their journeys.

Set in the east wail of the north aisle is tie tomb of Edward Lake of Abbots Court. This tomb appears to be cut   into a recess or side chapel of an earlier age. At one time   a singing gallery existed along the west wall.

Two recently restored Coats of Arms, one Elizabethan and one James I can be seen directly over the main door. A panel was affixed to one of the pillars of the interior arch of the bell tower bearing the date 16 JR 07 referring to King James I.

There are several old memorial brasses In the church, most of them in a fair state of preservation. The oldest of   these is of John Browne, a priest who was Vicar of Hoo from 1391 to 1406. This lies before the altar rail. There is also a nice effigy of a layman I8in. In length datable circa 1430.

In the nave are two identical laymen each I8in. Long.   Also before the altar rail are the settings of a man between two women, the plates having been removed. There is besides a fine figure of a priest, Richard Bayly [although his head   is now gone!] This is dated about 1412. There are figures of James Plumley who died on 26th August 1640 and his wife Anna with their three sons and four daughters. Within the altar rails is a brass plate of a full length figure of Dorothy, wife of John Plumiey who died in 1615.

At the entrance to the chancel is a small figure of a man with a dog but the inscription is now gone. In the nave is a brass slip to the memory of John Beddyll who died on 7th June 1500.

Over in the south aisle are the important brasses of Thomas Cobham, who died on the 8th June 1465 and his wife Matilda. He is represented in elaborate plate armour with a sword suspended from a belt in front. There is a little dog at their feet. He was the Lord of the Manor of Beluncle.

There are other and more recent stone and brass plates. In the North aisle is a stone tablet with the names of the dead of World War I.

Underneath is a further tablet to those who fell in World War II. There is a large granite column in the churchyard also to the memory of the dead of both wars.

In times past, the south porch may have been the main entrance and used in ancient days as a court for the visiting Bishop or Magistrate. The south porch is now a vestry, but the old oak door into the church remains as does the old door in the north porch. The south side door has a very curious bolt and chain that can be undone from either side.

Both doors are of solid ancient oak, massive and stoutly framed. The tiling on the floor is said to be the original.

Inside the north porch is a Holy water stoop set in the wall, the windows have recently been glazed and an oaken outer door fitted.

In the past bargemen used to gather in the porch before tide-time to discuss the weather and their   prospects of making a passage.

The church consists of nave, chancel and north and south aisles. The length of the nave is about 70ft. and the chancel about 26ft. The clerestories on the south side of the nave were completely restored in 1962. The south aisle was re-roofed at about the same time in oak with sheet   copper outer cover, but the north aisle was replaced in concrete. In the nave the roof is supported by timber pilasters ornamented with grotesque heads. Records state that this re-roofing took place in 1786.

There is a considerable amount of ancient glass in the church, some of it coloured. Some small figures can be seen in tie glass of the upper lights of the chancel and in   the west wall of the south aisle. The design and colouring is very soft and quite different from the stained glass of   the Victorian period. There are a number of memorial windows of the 19th Century.

The East window is of three lights to the memory of Thomas Hermitage Day and it shows the presentation of the infant Christ at the Temple. The middle window in the south aisle is a memorial to William Nicholson who died in 1880, typical of the period.

There is a superior stained glass window in the North Alsie to the memory of Thomas Aveling. He was born in Cambridgeshire in 1824 before moving to Hoo. He was the proprietor of an engineering works in Rochester and the co-founder of Aveling and Porter which became the largest manufacturer of steam rollers in the world. He died in 1882 and is buried in the churchyard at St Werburgh Church.

This year (2024) was the two hundredth anniversary of Thomas Aveling’s birth. A commemoration service was held at the church where a Blue Plaque was installed.

In the North wall is another window to the memory of his widow, Sarah. This shows St. Cordelia, St. Werburgh and Queen Bertha of Kent.   Alongside the organ in the south wall is a window depicting the Transfiguration with quite well-drawn figures of Christ in the centre with Elias and Moses on either side. Ann Durban, wife of John Durban who was curate-in-charge of this church for 20 years has a stained glass window to her memory in the west wall. She was Thomas Aveling’s mother.

The font is situated at the rear of the central aisle. It is a plain octangular basin resting on a base of the same form. The base is said to be of Norman origin.

In the chancel, and south of the altar are three cedilla [seats] each having a canopy of finely carved cinquefoil tracery. Each seat is divided by two light columns of Purbeck or Bethensden marble. These seats were at one time used by the monks and clergy when Hoo church was under the patronage of the Priory of Rochester. The work belongs to the early 15th Century. The reredos is of stone and of comparatively modern design. There is evidence of fresco painting in the chancel, but successive coatings of cream wash have all but obliterated it.

In the north wall are a short series of stone steps   in a good state of preservation. These steps led originally into the rood loft which went across the whole width of the   church. The corbels which supported the loft can still be seen.

Past archaeological investigations in the area have discovered extensive prehistoric and Romano-British remains in the vicinity of Hoo. The alignment of a Roman road linking the Hoo Peninsula to Roman Watling Street is projected to run to the south of the former

Chattenden Barracks close to the development area

.To the north-west of the area, within the Lodge Hill enclosure, a Romano-British cemetery has previously been identified and a further occupation site has been found south of Hoo between the village and the shoreline. The village itself contains built heritage assets such as the church

and it is important to protect the long views towards them. There are also Saxon and Medieval remains, although the site of the 7 th century nunnery has yet to be identified.

The landscape also contains numerous survivals of the Second World War associated with the General Headquarters Stop Line that runs from the foreshore south-east of Hoo to the north of Lodge Hill where it turns west.

West of Hoo St Werburgh.

KCC notes that both east and west of Hoo there is a strong maritime character with many coastal features that also contribute to the historic character of the area. The Cockham Farm area has an extensive heritage as both north and south of Stoke Road, cropmark complexes and field boundaries have been observed in aerial photographs although the dates of the complexes is unknown.

Along the route of the Saxon Shore Way, a number of well-dated archaeological discoveries have been made and palaeolithic artefacts have been recovered from a brickearth pit to the south-west of St Werburgh's Church in Hoo in the 1930s. Furthermore, a late bronze age occupation site was discovered during a watching brief in 1999, an iron age coin and torc were found close to Hoo village and a Romano-British cemetery and occupation site was found in 1894 near Cockham Cottages. The lost 7 th century nunnery may exist either within the village or within the Cockham Farm area, and other middle Saxon features are known from the area south of the village

Along the coast can be seen numerous examples of more recent heritage assets. Although Roman remains have been found at Hoo Marina Park, most of the remains relate to the maritime use of the coastline. The most significant site is the scheduled 17 th century Cockham Wood Fort built by Sir Bernard de Gomme as a response to the Dutch Raid.

Despite its scheduled status, the fort is included in the national Heritage at Risk register where it is described as at risk of immediate further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric if no solution for its conservation and management is agreed. There are also numerous wharves, jetties and quays, as well as several examples of wrecked barges dating from the 18 th to 20 th centuries.

In addition to the maritime activity, there are several important 20 th century military assets along the coast. The General Headquarters Stop Line meets the coast at this point and the junction was defended by at least 8 pillboxes and anti-landing sites

.East of Hoo St Werburgh

Prehistoric cropmarks enclosures and features have been seen in aerial photography between Sharnal Street and Tunbridge Hill and also around Tile Barn Farm. A number of prehistoric to Saxon discoveries were made during Isle of Grain gas pipeline works most notably, a Late Bronze Age settlement or probable possible funerary site and a possible Late Bronze Age small scale industrial site. A Romano-British industrial site with a probable pottery kiln was also found.

The Second World War General Headquarters Line runs south-east to north-west through the western end of the area and contains many surviving heritage assets of importance. The indicative illustration appears to show extensive new development, including the location of a proposed neighbourhood centre between Ropers Lane and Bells Lane. The area is crossed by part of the General Headquarters stop-line between Hoo St Werburgh and Higham Marshes; a notable surviving example of anti-invasion defence. It is an important remnant of the Second World War defended landscape of Hoo Peninsula and is a well-preserved example of this type of defence, which is part of a major chapter in the national story.

A group of pillboxes are located along the edge of the existing development along Bells Lane, two of which are Grade II listed. The stop-line comprised an anti-tank ditch, pillboxes, both anti-tank and infantry, barbed wire entanglements, road-blocks and other features. The surviving remains form a coherent pattern of defence linked to the local topography. KCC advises that extensive development here would result in the loss of part of the stop-line and would be harmful to the setting of the listed pillboxes.