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Cliffe-at-Hoo is a village on the Hoo peninsular in Kent, reached from the Medway Towns by way of a three mile journey along the b2000. Situated upon a low chalk escarpment overlooking the Thames marshes, Cliffe offers the adventurous rambler views of Southend and London.
In the year of 774 Offa king of Mercia had built a rustic wooden church on these cliffs which was dedicated to St Helen, a popular 'Mercian' Saint, who was by legend the daughter of Coel ('Old king Cole') of Colchester.
Cliffe is cited in early records as having been called Clive and Cloveshoo (Cliffe-at-Hoo).
The ancient Saxon town of Cloveshoo.
Clovesho, (or Clofeshoch), was an ancient Saxon town, in Mercia and near London, where important Church councils were recorded as having been held during the years of 742, 747, 794, 798, 803, 824, and 825, representing the See of Canterbury and the whole English Church, south of the Humber. (Mercia) The location of Cloveshoo has never been successfully identified however, although it is generally thought to have been Cliffe-at-Hoo.
In Hertford between 672/3 a decision was made to hold these councils on the 1st of August, each and every year: "in the place which is called Clofeshoch." This ruling represents the inauguration of first parliamentary system known to have operated in Britain. 'There had never before been a parliament with authority enough to decide on matters concerning all the English peoples'.
The Second Council of Clovesho, was held in the year 747, one of the most important such gatherings recorded in the history of the Anglo-Saxon Church. As recorded in a manuscript preserved by William of Malmesbury, "King Ethelbald and his princes and chiefs were present". However the slow pace of change during this era meant that such councils were only occasionally required but were significant in that they had the character not only of a church synod but also of the Witenagemot. Such meetings were held at Clovesho for over 150 years.
1200-1800.
St Helens church at Cliffe was built in about 1260 and was constructed in the local style of alternating layers of Kent rag stone and squared black flint. It is one of the largest parish churches in Kent, and the only dedicated to St Helen, the size of the church revealing its importance, in years long since past.
During the 14th century Cliffe was the site of a farm owned by the monks of Christ's Church, Canterbury, when the village had a population of about 3000.
In the late middle ages the village of Cliffe supported a port, which thrived until a disastrous fire in 1520 stifled its growth, marking a period of decline, accentuated by the silting of the marshes of the Thames estuary. Nevertheless During the 16th century, the Village of Cliffe-at-Hoo was still a considered a town. In the middle of the 19th century the population had slumped to about 900.
In 1824, construction of the Strood-Gravesend canal was begun and with Cliffe situated close by during this period there was no shortage of work for able-bodies villagers, and other labourers, who came to the area from far and wide, increasing the local population once again.
The canal project was a short lived enterprise however, superceded by the development of the railways, but the route, including the Strood-Higham tunnel (four miles in length, in two sections) was used by South Eastern Railway from 1845, later bringing a branch line to Cliffe in 1882.
Henry Pye.
Even in 1895 the number of people contracting malaria was high but casualties begun reducing sharply after the farmer, Henry Pye, came to the area and systematically begun the drainage of the farmland and marshes thus eliminating the fever. He drained such a large area of the marsh and so improved the grazing pastures that he was called 'King of the Hundreds'.
Henry Pye was an innovator in farming practices promoting the use of steam engines for use in ploughing and threshing. In 1878, with other farmers Pye met with the South Eastern Railway Company and petitioned for a railway to be built, resulting in the establishment of the 'Hundred of Hoo Railway Company'. The first part of the line was opened in March 1882, running from Cliffe to Sharnal Street.
The first cement factory was built at Cliffe in 1860, and in 1901 the population again soared to over three thousand.
Victorian Cliffe.
With the rise of the Kent cement industry during the Victorian era a new prosperity was brought to the ancient settlement.
Francis and Co. first instituted the 'Nine Elms' cement works, named after the now lost trees along the Butway lane, leading away from the church toward the marshes. This works was possibly the first such enterprise in the country at the time and commenced production of cement from about 1861. Built on the Cliffe marsh, to the west of the village at a location where the chalk cliffs came almost to within a mile of the river Thames, the area also proved a useful source of clay.
The riverside location provided ease of transport for export of the product and wharves were duly built at the mouth of Cliffe creek. A canal was therefore constructed from the works, which gave its name to a tavern built nearby, now long demolished but remembered as the Canal Tavern.
1870/1 saw further developments to the cement works, which were rebuilt and extended, with an elaborate tramway added. Methods of extracting the chalk at the time were very basic, involving the labourer being suspended by a rope (around his waist) secured at the cliff top, from which position he would hack out the chalk, so that it fell to the ground below to be collected in a waiting railway wagon.
Further to the north of the Francis and Co works close to the river, an explosive works (Curtis and Harvey) opened in 1901. Over the factories 20 year history 16 people were to loose their lives in explosions.
Francis and Co. was taken over about in 1900 by the British Portland Cement Company, but after the great war the cement works began to decline, and was finally phased out about 1920/1.
Alpha cement works.
Close by the Francis works in 1910 a new cement manufacturer began its operations, the Alpha cement works was part of the Thames Portland Cement Company.
The Alpha works were situated about a mile from the river and included an 'Goshead aerial cableway' which ran along side the road previously constructed by the soldiers of Cliffe fort, then disused.
Alpha continued in operation after the closure of the Francis works, which was taken over by the latter in 1934. With this amalgamation an additional railway was required and duly added in 1935 to replace the cableway, linking the works with the quayside, next to the fort.
The Alpha site however was to have become exhausted by 1950, and further digging led to extensive flooding, as quarrying exceeded the depth of the water table. These quarries still flooded, offer addition havens for wildlife, and are amongst the few surviving that have not been used as refuse deposit sites or otherwise developed.
A second quarry was begun to the north of Salt Lane, which is still the main access road to the village of Cliffe from the cement works area, on the very edge of the marshes.
by the late 1950's the cement industry in the area was owned by the A.P.C.M, which had added a further railway line to the Hundred of Hoo railway, by 1961, giving the cement manufacturers direct access to the main railway network, but the works at Cliffe had to be closed down in 1969, with no further space available for quarrying.
In 1970 the cement industry was replaced by the Marinex gravel company, whose fleet of ships were employed in the dredging of gravel from the Thames estuary.
Cliffe rectory.
Cliffe rectory during its history has housed two chancellors of the exchequer, two archbishops, three deans and 11 archdeacons. Nicholas Heath, bishop of Rochester, and archbishop of Worcester also lived at the rectory.
Anne, the daughter of Samuel Annerley, (lord privy seal, 1649) married the rev Samuel Wesley, father of John Wesley, founder of the Wesleyans, also lived at Cliffe rectory.
Cliffe fort.
Cliffe fort was built on the edge of the marshes to protect the river, but has been disused since before 1910. It is similar to the one now restored, at Tilbury in Essex, on the opposite side of the river Thames.
Cooling castle.
Cooling castle was built on the edge of the marshes during the 12th century to defend the port of Cliffe from the threat of French raiders.
The RSPB at Cliffe.
It was in 2002 proposed by the incumbent government of the UK that an airport be built at Cliffe. Estimates of the final cost of the Cliffe option range from £11.5bn to £23bn. This figure however does not include the cost of compensation for direct and indirect habitat loss, which would have run into hundreds of millions of pounds.
However British Airways has stated that: "We don't think it is possible to build a new airport in the time scale needed for new runway capacity in the southeast of England."
The RSPB were to be at the forefront of the consultation process arguing the proposal would be 'the single most destructive development affecting nationally and internationally protected wildlife sites in the UK.'
The RSPB highlighted a number of key issues concerning the over riding significance of the area, and its unique international importance for birds, including large numbers of Bewick's swans, Brent geese, White-fronted geese, Shelducks, Gadwall, Teal, Ringed Plovers, Grey Plovers, Kknot and Black-tailed Godwits, and other wildlife:
i. The Cliffe area is heavily protected by UK and European conservation laws.
ii. "Passenger safety - situating a major international airport where planes would take off and land through an area that supports concentrations of up to 200,000 wading birds, ducks and geese, poses a major risk of bird strikes on a scale that could easily down aircraft, with disastrous consequences".
The Government's own Bird strike Avoidance Team has said of Cliffe: "There is a very serious potential bird strike risk at the new airport site. Indeed, it is difficult to envisage a more problematic site anywhere else in the UK."
iii. "Technical challenges - Environment Agency staff have said that if the airport is built at Cliffe there is a real possibility of flooding in London, as well as in the Cliffe/Cooling marshes area and that in the long term a second Thames Barrier may be required in the Gravesend/Tilbury area".
An airport at Cliffe would be the single most environmentally destructive planning development the UK has ever seen.
References; Perry Haines RSPB.
Shamel Hundred. D.S. Worsdale.
Isle of Grain Railways, Adrian Gray.
External links: