Peninsula Timeline

This was volunteer project for Medway Archives started during the Covid-19 lockdown period. Itis a series of Spreadsheet files noting the timelines of the villages on the Hoo peninsula using maily online sources but also a few references from Medway archives and other sources.

The Hoo peninsula is a spur of land lying between the estuary of the River Medway and the mouth of the River Thames in the historic county of Kent. The railway line between Gravesend and Chatham forms a convenient boundary between the peninsula and the rest of the county.

The historic parishes which fall to the east of this bounding line are: Allhallows, Cliffe, Cooling, High Halstow, Hoo St Mary, Hoo St Werburgh, Stoke and Grain. It also includes a part of Frindsbury parish and a part of Higham parish. Higham is not in the modern Medway Council area (it is in the borough of Gravesham) so I have not included it this survey. The part of Frindsbury which lies to the east of the railway line is Upnor, which was created a separate parish in 1873. Upnor is included, but not the rest of Frindsbury.

The peninsula is a ridge of land extending eastwards with marshy boundaries along both rivers. English Heritage Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project 2013 ISSN 2046-9799 notes that the earliest sea walls were built between 12th-15th centuries but in 1555, 1564, 1568 and 1569 the whole area downstream of Gravesend was inundated by salt water after breaches of the sea defences making the land of ‘little worth’ and in the 16th and 17th century malaria became established in the marsh areas..

English Heritage Hoo Peninsula Historic Landscape Project also notes that there is evidence of salt production on the peninsula dating back to pre-Roman times and documentary evidence from the 8th -11th centuries.

In the 21st century the marshy areas offer valuable protection from possible sea level rises due to global warming and are important habitats for a variety of wildlife. The non-marsh areas are fertile farmland although the whole area is under threat of being developed for housing.

Whilst I am no longer actively looking for more data, if and when anything else is found the appropriate file(s) will be updated .