Harty is a small hamlet on the
Isle of Sheppey
The Isle of Sheppey is an island off the northern coast of Kent, England, neighbouring the Thames Estuary, centred from central London. It has an area of . The island forms part of the local government district of Swale. ''Sheppey'' is derived ...
in Kent consisting of a few cottages, a church and a public house, the Ferry Inn (a ). It is part of the
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
of
Leysdown.
History
The earliest recorded evidence of human occupation comes from a late
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...
hoard
A hoard or "wealth deposit" is an archaeological term for a collection of valuable objects or artifacts, sometimes purposely buried in the ground, in which case it is sometimes also known as a cache. This would usually be with the intention of ...
of
axe
An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has ma ...
s,
gouged bronze founder's appliances and metal. The find has wider importance from the information it gives into methods used for casting in the late Bronze Age. Evidence of Roman occupation also exists; finds of
tesserae
A tessera (plural: tesserae, diminutive ''tessella'') is an individual tile, usually formed in the shape of a square, used in creating a mosaic. It is also known as an abaciscus or abaculus.
Historical tesserae
The oldest known tesserae ...
, roof and flue tiles may indicate the site of a Roman villa.
During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
there were extensive salt workings. Remains today consist of groups of ''salt mounds'' which are the waste left over from the process. Park Farmhouse is a dating from the 16 century.
In 1798
Edward Hasted
Edward Hasted (20 December 1732 OS (31 December 1732 NS) – 14 January 1812) was an English antiquarian and pioneering historian of his ancestral home county of Kent. As such, he was the author of a major county history, ''The History and To ...
recorded that an earlier form of the name was 'Harteigh' which he presumes came from the Saxon Heord-tu, an island "filled with herds of cattle". Other forms of the name have been Hertei (1086), Heartege (1100), Herteye (1242) and the modern Harty by 1610.
[ Patience & Perks p. 3.] Hasted also noted that the islet was part of the
hundred
100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101.
In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...
of
Faversham
Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient British t ...
unlike the rest of the island of Sheppey which came within Milton Hundred. There were also 4000 sheep and six cottages with 20 people, but of those 20 six were on permanent poor relief and another 3 occasionally so.
Harty is a few minutes walk from the Swale National Nature Reserve. Public footpaths run from Harty, along the southern extent of the reserve to the hamlet of
Shellness
Shellness is a small coastal hamlet on the most easterly point of the Isle of Sheppey in the Borough of Swale in the English county of Kent. The settlement forms part of the parish of Leysdown. It is south-east of the main village of Leysdown-on- ...
, and back around the reserve's northern perimeter to Harty.
Church of St Thomas the Apostle
The church of 'St Thomas the Apostle' is a The date of founding cannot be fixed with certainty. The official listing dates it to late 11th or early 12th century, based in part on and in part on
Patience & Perks. Patience & Perks start by reporting the raid by Harold in 1052 and then note that ""The date ascribed to the church of 1089 would be consistent with a re-building following damage by the Danes".
[ Patience & Perks p. 4.] However, on the next page they discuss the narrow walls which are indicative of Saxon builders and note that in 1989, when a shallow trench was excavated in the south wall, traces of Saxon work were found.
[ Patience & Perks p. 5.] Tufa
Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertine. ...
stone was rarely used after the early Norman period, and so the use of it in a window in the north wall would indicate a date of no later than the end of the 11th century.
Patience & Perks observe that the "date of AD 1089 is ascribed to the Norman work, which may well have been the re-building of an earlier structure desecrated by the Danish invaders".
After 1200 the north
aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
was built and the original north wall pierced to form the existing
arcade
Arcade most often refers to:
* Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine
** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware
** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board
* Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games
* ...
. The now blocked off south door was cut at about this time. In the head of the jamb is a
scratch dial or primitive sundial.
A little later the chancel was rebuilt, extended to create the sanctuary and the porch to the north door constructed.
[ Patience & Perks pp. 5–6.] At what point the Norman chancel arch was removed is unclear, possibly at the time of the rebuilding but certainly prior to the erection of the
rood screen
The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...
. The 14th century saw the construction of the vestry,
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British term for a chapel dedicated to "Our Lady", Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chapel or a Marian chapel, an ...
and
buttress
A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral (s ...
ing of the south and west walls. The existing rood screen probably dates to this period.
[ Patience & Perks p. 6.] There is no rood loft but the stairs leading to one are still visible. The stairs lead out of what is now the vestry but was originally the north chapel. This was a 14th-century extension of the north aisle eastwards. Within the vestry is the remains of an
aumbry
An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church for storing sacred vesse ...
or secure cupboard for holding books and valuable plate.
[ Patience & Perks p. 10.] The 19th and 20th centuries have also left their marks. The former saw heavy restoration including a complete reroofing of the nave (including reraftering) and heavy pointing of the exterior. The later has seen necessary restoration to the west end which was damaged by a bomb during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
[ Patience & Perks p. 12.]
To the north of the
high altar
An altar is a table or platform for the presentation of religious offerings, for sacrifices, or for other ritualistic purposes. Altars are found at shrines, temples, churches, and other places of worship. They are used particularly in paganis ...
there is a
niche
Niche may refer to:
Science
*Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development
*Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species
*Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...
which may have held a figure of St Thomas. Traces of a 14C painting therein have been obscured by a 15C one.
[ Patience & Perks pp. 6–7.] There is also a niche for a figure in the Lady chapel, recently (c.1999) filled by a statue of
Our Lady of Walsingham
Our Lady of Walsingham is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus venerated by Catholics, Western Rite Orthodoxy, Western Rite Orthodox Christians, and some Anglicans associated with the Marian apparitions to Richeldis de Faverches, a pious English peo ...
.
[ Patience & Perks p. 7.] Against the western wall of the lady chapel is a 14th-century oak
muniment
A muniment or muniment of title is a legal term for a document, title deed or other evidence, that indicates ownership of an asset. The word is derived from the Latin noun ''munimentum'', meaning a "fortification, bulwark, defence or protection". ...
chest, the front of which is carved with a representation of a joust. In 1987 it was stolen and recovered from
Phillips auction rooms. To protect it, the lady chapel arch is filled with an iron screen. It was during the installation of this screen that the shallow trench referred to above was dug.
The church is unusual that there is no electricity or running water. Lighting in the nave is provided by hanging paraffin lamps and by wall mounted lamps with reflectors. The parish is within the
Diocese of Canterbury
The Diocese of Canterbury is a Church of England diocese covering eastern Kent which was founded by St. Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The diocese is centred on Canterbury Cathedral and is the oldest see of the Church of England.
The ''Report ...
and deanery of
Sittingbourne
Sittingbourne is an industrial town in Kent, south-east England, from Canterbury and from London, beside the Roman Watling Street, an ancient British trackway used by the Romans and the Anglo-Saxons and next to the Swale, a strip of sea separa ...
. There is one bell hung for swing chiming of approximately .
File:Harty_Church,_niche_beside_high_altar.JPG, Niche beside the high altar
File:Harty_Church,_oil_lamp.JPG, Paraffin lamp
A kerosene lamp (also known as a paraffin lamp in some countries) is a type of lighting device that uses kerosene as a fuel. Kerosene lamps have a wick or mantle as light source, protected by a glass chimney or globe; lamps may be used on a t ...
in nave
The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...
File:Harty_Church,_stairs_to_rood_loft.JPG, Stairs to the old rood loft
File:Harty_Church,_view_looking_east_showing_the_rood_screen.JPG, East end showing rood screen
File:Harty_church,_the_base_of_the_bell_tower.JPG, West end showing hanging lamps and the bell tower base
Ferries and bridge
![Wheat Field in Harty, Sheppey](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f8/Wheat_Field_in_Harty%2C_Sheppey.jpg)
Hasted also records the existence of the ferry across
The Swale
The Swale is a tidal channel of the Thames estuary that separates the Isle of Sheppey from the rest of Kent. On its banks is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest which stretches from Sittingbourne to Whitstable in Kent. It is also ...
to
Oare on the mainland. The old ferry is reflected in the name of the adjacent Inn. The rights to the ferry were, and still are, held by the landlord of the "Ferry House" Inn. The southern, mainland, terminus was close to the villages of Oare and Uplees. Today the remains of the southern jetty are on the coast of the
Oare Marshes nature reserve. A small cluster of buildings close by still bear the name Harty Ferry Cottages. During
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...
built a bridge across the Swale.
[ The last ferry boat fell to pieces around 1941 and has never been replaced, although the official list entry for the church mentions the ferry as being in use until 1946. An attempt to start a small hovercraft service between the Harty Ferry Inn and Oare Creek in 1970 by the then landlord, Ben Fowler, failed after a few days.
records:
The "violent inundation" appears to have occurred in 1293. The silting of the fleet rendering Harty a ]tidal island
A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...
was complete by the time Hastead was writing in 1798. A hundred years later (in 1893) during floods the fleet grew to be wide but today is cut off from Windmill Creek by a causeway.[
]
In popular culture
Author Russell Hoban
Russell Conwell Hoban (February 4, 1925 – December 13, 2011) was an American expatriate writer. His works span many genres, including fantasy, science fiction, mainstream fiction, magical realism, poetry, and children's books.
He lived in ...
repurposes the Isle of Harty as "Harts Ease" in his 1980, post apocalyptic novel ''Riddley Walker
''Riddley Walker'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Russell Hoban, first published in 1980. It won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award for best science fiction novel in 1982, as well as an Australian Science Fiction Achievement Awa ...
''.
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
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*. See also monuments numbers 463496, 463499, 463508, 463511, 463514, 463502, 463520, 463523, 463526, 463529, 463538 and 463517.
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External links
Church web site
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{{Swale
Hamlets in Kent
Isle of Sheppey