Stoke is a civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England, to the south of Allhallows, on the north of the

Medway Medway is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Kent in South East England. It was formed in 1998 by merging the boroughs of City of Roche ...

Estuary. The parish had a population of 1,060 at the 2011 census. The two small villages of Lower Stoke and Stoke (sometimes referred to as Upper Stoke) stand on low-lying fertile farmland that is at most 17 m above highwater. The farmland descends to the Stoke Saltings – a maze of intricate channels and small islands beloved by wading birds. The church of Saints Peter and Paul is in Stoke; it was an appendage to the Manor of Great Hoo. The building contains some Norman and Early English work dating from 1175. It has no spire.Brian Matthews, the History of Strood Rural District, 1971, Strood Rural District Council In an

Anglo-Saxon charter Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the History of Anglo-Saxon England, early medieval period in England which typically made a grant of Real Estate, land or recorded a Privilege (legal ethics), privilege. The earliest surviving charters were ...

Stoke is referred to as "Andescohesham". It was passed with other lands by Eadberht, son of King Wihtred of Kent to the See of Rochester for "the good of his soul and the remission of sins". In 959, Lower Stoke, then called "Osterland", was granted by Queen Eadgifu to Christ Church, Canterbury. 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 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

it is called "Estoches" and "Stoches". Due to its low-lying nature, Stoke has often suffered flooding, such as in 1158, 1235, 1309, 1682, and 1735 when ploughmen were swept from their fields as the sea broke through. Also, in 1791, 1854, 1874, and 1897, Stoke was cut off from the Isle of Grain for a week. In 1720 Manor Farm was leased to Jacob Sawbridge, one of the

South Sea Bubble South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both west and east. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

directors. In 1732

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraving, engraver, pictorial social satire, satirist, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from Realism (visual arts), realistic p ...

stayed overnight at the 'Nag's Head' in Lower Stoke. Due to the shortage of beds he had to share a bed. There was a large airship base nearby at Kingsnorth from which patrols covering the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

were launched during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The site is now covered by Kingsnorth Power Station. Stoke has a private unlicensed airfield, home to Medway airsports club and previously part of Medway Microlights manufacturing microlight aircraft such as the Medway Executive SLA. Stoke Medway airfield is known in the aviation community as being a particularly challenging airfield to fly from. It is unique in its topography as it is situated parallel to marshes of the river Medway on one side of the runway. On the other side of the runway is an active rail line and high tension electricity pylons. The runway also has a curve along its entire length and is relatively short in aviation terms of only bring approx 450 metres long.

Future proposals

Proposals made by Lord Foster in November 2011 to expand the transport system of south east England, called the Thames Hub, planned a new river barrier and road crossing and a shipping and rail complex. The most controversial part of the scheme involved remodelling the

Thames Estuary The Thames Estuary is where the River Thames meets the waters of the North Sea, in the south-east of Great Britain. Limits An estuary can be defined according to different criteria (e.g. tidal, geographical, navigational or in terms of salinit ...

, by constructing a Thames Hub Airport on the neighbouring Isle of Grain, partially on land reclaimed from the estuary but including land at Allhallows and Lower Stoke. While the road crossing is still progressing, the other proposals have been shelved, with the airport plan abandoned in July 2015 on the recommendation of the Airports Commission.

References

{{authority control Villages in Kent Civil parishes in Kent