St Mary Hoo is a 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 authorit ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. It is 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 ...

in the borough of

Medway Medway is a unitary authority district and conurbation in Kent, South East England. It had a population of 278,016 in 2019. The unitary authority was formed in 1998 when Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with the Borough of Gillingham to ...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 244, falling to 238 at the 2011 Census. The first appearance of the name is in 1240.Judith Glover ''The Place Names of Kent'', London: Batsford, 1976. St Mary's Church at St Mary Hoo was the parish church and gave its name to the village, and although it remains a

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

building, dating from the 14th century, it has been reconstructed as a private house. Formally rebuilt in about 1881 of local

ragstone Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces, such as Horsham Stone, sandstone, Yorkshire stone, and the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. Near London ...

, it has an unrestored 15th century southwest window that is noteworthy. Newlands Farmhouse nearby along the ridge track to Northward Hill is a

farmhouse which was built in 1746. The Old Rectory at St Mary Hoo is a

house built in the late 18th century. It has a special place in scandals involving the royalty. The rectors from 1788 to 1875 were a father and son, both named R. Burt. The senior of the two, the Rev. Robert Burt, one of the prince's Chaplains in Ordinary, whose debts (of £500) were paid by the prince to release him from the Fleet Prison, performed the

illegal marriage Illegal, or unlawful, typically describes something that is explicitly prohibited by law, or is otherwise forbidden by a state or other governing body. Illegal may also refer to: Law * Violation of law * Crime, the practice of breaking the ...

ceremony A ceremony (, ) is a unified ritualistic event with a purpose, usually consisting of a number of artistic components, performed on a special occasion. The word may be of Etruscan origin, via the Latin '' caerimonia''. Church and civil (secula ...

between Prince George (afterwards King George IV) and

Mrs Fitzherbert Maria Anne Fitzherbert (''née'' Smythe, previously Weld; 26 July 1756 – 27 March 1837) was a longtime companion of George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV of the United Kingdom). In 1785, they secretly contracted a marriage that was i ...

in 1785.Brian Matthews, ''The History of Strood Rural District'', Strood Rural District Council, 1971 A plaque commemorating this event remains hidden in the old church of St Mary. St Mary's Hall, also at St Mary Hoo, was built in the 17th century and added to in 1830. It was the home of the Victorian farm innovator Henry Pye between 1845 and 1909. Fenn Farm House was built in the 15th century. In 1760 it was re-faced during the reign of George II. It was listed as a Grade 2 historic building in 2001.Fenn Farm
/ref>

References

External links

St. Mary Hoo Parish Council
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Hoo Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent Populated places on the River Thames