Hoo St Werburgh, commonly known as Hoo, is a large village and

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 ...

in the Medway district of Kent, England. It is one of several

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

s on the

Hoo Peninsula The Hoo Peninsula is a peninsula in Kent, England, separating the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway. It is dominated by a line of chalk, clay and sand hills, surrounded by an extensive area of marshland composed of alluvial silt. The n ...

to bear the name ''Hoo'', a Saxon word believed to mean "spur of land" or to refer to the "distinct heel-shape of the ridge of hills" through the settlement. Hoo features in

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, and had a population of 7,356 at the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...

, rising to 8,945 at the 2011 census. The civil parish includes

Chattenden Chattenden is a village within the civil parish of Hoo, which is within the unitary authority of Medway, Kent, England. It was, until 1998, part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. The A228 goes through th ...

to the west.

History

St Werburgh Werburgh (also ''Wærburh'', ''Werburh'', ''Werburga'', meaning "true city"; ; c. AD 650 – 3 February 699/700) was an Anglo-Saxon princess who became the patron saint of the city of Chester in Cheshire. Her feast day is 3 February. Life Wer ...

was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia, and niece of

King Æthelred King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

, his brother and successor. She was born between 640 and 650. The first church of Hoo may have been built in the reign of the 8th-century King Æthelbald of Mercia, though presumably a

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

existed nearby at an earlier time. This, together with land at Hoo All Hallows, is likely to have been placed under the rule of the leading

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , ye ...

n monastery of

Medeshamstede Medeshamstede was the name of Peterborough in the Anglo-Saxon period. It was the site of a monastery founded around the middle of the 7th century, which was an important feature in the kingdom of Mercia from the outset. Little is known of its ...

, now known as

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

The Parish Church of St Werburgh, Hoo - geograph

A significant, and possibly unique, feature of this ancient parish church are the two Royal hatchments of

Queen Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is sometimes referred to as the "Virgin Queen". El ...

and

King James I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

. These were later restored and can be viewed in the church. The Reverend Ferdinando Booth of the same family as Archbishop Lawrence Booth was

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

here from 1675 to 1680. Porch at Hoo St Werburgh Parish Church - geograph

The

parish records A parish register in an ecclesiastical parish is a handwritten volume, normally kept in the parish church in which certain details of religious ceremonies marking major events such as baptisms (together with the dates and names of the parents), ma ...

of 1851 gave the population as 1,065. According to official census figures, the population was, in 1891, 1,400; in 1971, 7,725; and in 1981, 7,944. ''Broad Street'' appeared as ''Brodestrete'' in 1478.''The Place Names Of Kent'', Judith Glover, 1976, Batsford . "Broad Street". ''Jacobs Lane'' is named after the family of Stephen Jacobe of Hoo (1480). A

workhouse In Britain, a workhouse () was an institution where those unable to support themselves financially were offered accommodation and employment. (In Scotland, they were usually known as poorhouses.) The earliest known use of the term ''workhouse' ...

was in use here until the 1930s, and the secondary school bears the name " The Hundred of Hoo Academy". Hoo was connected to the

Chattenden and Upnor Railway The Chattenden and Upnor Railway (also known as the Lodge Hill and Upnor Railway) was a narrow gauge railway serving the military barracks and depot at Upnor, Kent and associated munitions and training depots. It was preceded in the early 1870 ...

by a -long branch which closed in the 1890s. 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.

Village amenities

Hoo Village Hall & Jubilee Hall are located on Pottery Road Recreation Ground. Hoo Village Hall & Jubilee Hall are run as a charitable trust by a management committee. Hoo has one 1.5-acre allotment site (made up of 35 plots) located off Everest Drive. The allotments site is managed by the Parish Council. Formerly a primary school, Hoo has a library located next to St Werburgh Church on Church Street. The library is managed by Medway Council. Hoo St Werburgh Library, Church St - geograph

Hoo St Werburgh Library, Church St - geograph

Hoo has one public convenience (toilets, including disabled toilet) and carpark located on Stoke Road. The public convenience and carpark is managed by Medway Council. Hoo has a 1.0-acre green and landscaped gardens located in the centre. The village green and gardens are managed by Medway Council. The gardens are also looked after and tended to by a group of volunteer residents. Hoo has a pond and surrounding nature reserve located off Hemony Grove. The pond and reserve is managed by a private maintenance company, although the site is open to the public for recreation. Public liaison is Medway Council.

Recreation grounds

Hoo has three recreation grounds managed by the Parish Council.Hoo Saint Werburgh Parish Council, A History 1894-1984. By D.S. Worsdale (December 1983) – Published by Hoo St Werburgh Parish Council. Kingshill Recreation Ground, located off Fourwents Road, is a 7.71-acre site which includes a play park, surfaced football and basketball pitch, woodland walks and open space surrounded by treeline. Pottery Road Recreation Ground, located off Pottery Road, is a 5.32-acre site which includes an older children's play park and separate younger children's play park, enclosed surfaced football and basketball pitch, skate half pipe, skate ramps, adult exercise equipment, sheltered seating area and open space surrounded by treeline. Hoo Common, located off Elm Avenue, is a large site which includes woodland walks, meadows and open space surrounded by treeline. Hoo Common 3662

Future development

As part of the developing Local Plan,

Medway Council Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. The council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Med ...

has proposed to expand and develop Hoo into a "small rural town". The expansion could be supported by a new railway station.

Education

Hoo is served by a number of schools. Hoo St Werburgh Primary School is for pupils aged 4–11 years of age. There are a total of 386 pupils arranged into 14 classes with two classes per year group. Attached to the school is the Marlborough Centre which caters for children diagnosed as autistic. The centre has 54 children arranged into six classes. The Hundred of Hoo Academy (formerly The Hundred of Hoo School) is for pupils aged 4–18 years of age. There are a total of 1,757 pupils. The academy holds specialist Arts College status and is named after 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 Hoo" featured in Domesday Book. The academy offers advanced media facilities and provides secondary education as well as one form entry primary education. Pupils draw from the various villages on the Hoo Peninsula. Hundred of Hoo School - geograph

Governance

Hoo is within the Rochester & Strood parliament constituency.

Local government

Hoo is governed by two tiers of local government: *

is a

Unitary Authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

, responsible for the majority of council services, combining the typical functions of a county council and a district council. *Hoo Parish Council is a Parish Council, responsible for a small number of local council services.

Notable residents

Thomas Aveling, a pioneering agricultural engineer, was born in

Elm, Cambridgeshire Elm is a village and civil parish in the Fenland District of Cambridgeshire, England. In Domesday it is called Helle. The village is about 1 miles or 2 km south of the market town of Wisbech, immediately to the south of the Wisbech by-pass. Th ...

on 11 September 1824 before moving to Hoo. He was the co-founder of

Aveling and Porter Aveling and Porter was a British agricultural engine and steamroller (road roller) manufacturer. Thomas Aveling and Richard Thomas Porter entered into partnership in 1862, and developed a steam engine three years later in 1865. By the ear ...

which became the largest manufacturer of steam rollers in the world. Aveling died on 7 March 1882 and is buried in the churchyard at St Werburgh Church. There is a road in Hoo called Aveling Close, named after Aveling.

William Lionel Wyllie William Lionel Wyllie (5 July 1851 – 6 April 1931) also known as W. L. Wyllie was a prolific English painter of Marine art, maritime themes in both oils and watercolours. He has been described as "the most distinguished marine artist of ...

, a prolific maritime painter, was born in

Camden Town Camden Town (), often shortened to Camden, is a district of northwest London, England, north of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Camden, and identified in the London Plan as o ...

, London on 5 July 1851. He once lived at Hoo Lodge, located on top of a ridge, which would have provided inspiration with its panoramic view of the

River Medway The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald AONB, High Weald, East Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a to ...

and the maritime activity at

Chatham Dockyard Chatham Dockyard was a Royal Navy Dockyard located on the River Medway in Kent. Established in Chatham in the mid-16th century, the dockyard subsequently expanded into neighbouring Gillingham (at its most extensive, in the early 20th century, ...

. The corvette

HMS Calypso (1883) HMS ''Calypso'' was a corvette (designated as a third-class cruiser from 1887Winfield (2004), p.265) of the Royal Navy and the lead ship of its namesake class. Built for distant cruising in the heyday of the British Empire, the vessel serv ...

was built at Chatham, which Wyllie painted in 1897. Wyllie died on 6 April 1931 at

Primrose Hill Primrose Hill is a Grade II listed public park located north of Regent's Park in London, England, first opened to the public in 1842.Mills, A., ''Dictionary of London Place Names'', (2001) It was named after the natural hill in the centre of ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. There is a road in Hoo called Wylie Road (incorrectly spelled), named after Wyllie.

Declan Galbraith Declan John Galbraith (born 19 December 1991) is a British musician. He is best known for his 2002 hit single, " Tell Me Why", which peaked at #29 in the UK Singles Chart. Early life Galbraith was born on 19 December 1991, in Hoo St Werburg ...

, best known for his 2002

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

" Tell Me Why", which peaked at #29 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, is from Hoo.

Pauline Parker Pauline may refer to: Religion *An adjective referring to St Paul the Apostle or a follower of his doctrines *An adjective referring to St Paul of Thebes, also called St Paul the First Hermit *An adjective referring to the Paulines, various relig ...

, known for the 1954 Parker–Hulme murder case in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, now lives in Hoo following her release after serving a 5-year prison sentence. She currently runs a children's riding school in the area.

References

External links

The History And Topographical Survey Of Kent Volume 4: Survey Of Hoo St. Werburgh (1798)Domesday Book entry
{{authority control Places in Medway Villages in Kent