St Mary Hoo
Encyclopedia
St Mary Hoo is a village and civil parish
Civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a territorial designation and, where they are found, the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties...

 in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It is on the Hoo Peninsula
Hoo Peninsula
The Hoo Peninsula is a peninsula in England separating the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway. It is dominated by a line of sand and clay hills, surrounded by an extensive area of marshland composed of alluvial silt. The name Hoo is the Old English word for spur of land.-History:The Romans...

 in the borough of Medway
Medway
Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. The Unitary Authority was formed in 1998 when the City of Rochester-upon-Medway amalgamated with Gillingham Borough Council and part of Kent County Council to form Medway Council, a unitary authority independent of Kent County...

. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 244.

The first appearance of the name is in 1240. 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 building, dating from the 14th century, it has been reconstructed as a private house. Formally rebuilt in about 1881 of local ragstone, it has an unrestored 15th century southwest window that is noteworthy.
Newlands Farmhouse nearby along the ridge track to Northward Hill is a Grade II farmhouse which was built in 1746.

The Old Rectory at St Mary Hoo is a Grade II 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, performed the illegal marriage ceremony between George IV and Mrs Fitzherbert in 1785. 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 15 th century. In 1760 it was re-faced during the reign of George II. It was listed as a Grade 2 historic building in 2001.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK