Hooe is both a small village and a

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 Wealden District of

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

; the village being located about two miles (3 km) north-west of Bexhill, and north of the A259 coast road, on the B2095 road from

Ninfield Ninfield is a village and civil parish in the Wealden District of East Sussex, England. The village is quite linear and centred 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Bexhill-on-Sea where two roads cross: the A269 from Bexhill to Battle and the ...

. The parish name takes account of local usage, and the location of the parish church; in fact the main population centre is to the north, and is called Hooe Common.

History

The name Hooe comes from the

Saxon The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic * * * * peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...

word meaning a ridge, since the village stood on a ridge of land between two arms of the sea. Those areas are now low-lying land, one being the ''Hooe Levels'', across which flows the stream known as ''Waller's Haven''. The River Ashbourne flows into the Haven, down which iron products, particularly cannon, used to be shipped from the Wealden iron works at Ashburnham. During the 18th century Hooe was used by local gangs for the

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. There are various ...

trade. There was a high demand in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

for English wool and the local Romney sheep produced fine wool and high-quality meat which was traded or smuggled via small boats off

Normans Bay Normans Bay (Normans' Bay on Ordnance Survey maps) is a coastal fishing Hamlet (place), hamlet in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, England. Spencer Cavendish, 8th Duke of Devonshire, The 8th Duke of Devonshire donated this land for a combined scho ...

for brandy, wines, tobacco and other luxury goods. The church, dedicated to St Oswald, is part of a combined

ecclesiastical parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish priest ...

with that at Ninfield. Hooe church, both Saxon and Norman, was built in its location as meeting point of several of the surrounding hamlets, including Hooe Common. There were suggestions by a local historian that there was a village surrounding the church but that it was burnt down during the plague and the village moved to Hooe Common although there is no archaeological evidence for this. There is an abandoned medieval village, Northeye, which is located on Hooe Levels. This may have been abandoned during the plague.

Landmarks

Hooe windmill was situated where the house "The Retreat" is now, next to the recreation ground. King Henry the Eighths hunting lodge is located at Court Lodge where he stayed with Katherine Howard before they were married.

Pevensey Levels Pevensey Levels is a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest between Bexhill-on-Sea and Hailsham in East Sussex. It is a Nature Conservation Review site, Grade I, a Ramsar site and a Special Area of Conservation. An area of is a nati ...

, a

Site of Special Scientific Interest A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...

, lies partially in the parish. The site is of biological interest consisting of low-lying grazing meadows, hosting a wide variety of wetland flora and fauna. The hardy and docile all-red\ginger Sussex cattle which arrived in Viking days are very well suited to the Hooe Levels where they were once used as oxen to transport goods locally; they thrive on the mineral rich marshland where they are grass-finished to produce some of the best beef in the world

Public Transport

Renown Coaches operate two buses services Monday to Friday which consists of:- Route 97: Currently Departs Hooe Lamb Inn at 09:03 and 12:03. There is a 15:03 on non school days which operates via Hooe Common 5 minutes later. (This is subject to change due to the national concessionary pass times changing.) These buses operate to Bexhill. There is also a School bus which departs Hooe Common at 08:08 to Claverham with a bus departing Claverham at 15:30. This is route 356.

References

External links

{{authority control Villages in East Sussex Civil parishes in East Sussex Wealden District