Churches committee visit to Hoo (June 2016)

By Paul Lee

The churches committee's second visit of the year brought a group of society members to Cooling and Cliffe on Saturday 18th June. The visit was organised and led by committee member David Carder. David began by guiding us in an exploration of the interior and exterior of Cooling Church, finding dating evidence in the stonework and architectural features. Cooling is a largely 13th century church consisting of tower, nave and chancel, evidently largely rebuilt in the 14th century and then restored in the 19th century. Interesting features include some very early 14th century pews and the contemporary nearby north door. The impressive arcaded chancel with large sedilia is at first surprising in such a small place and possibly reflects connections with the rich de Cobhams of the nearby castle. In the churchyard, the famous “Pip’s Graves” reflect the high infant mortality rate in this unhealthy marsh area in the 18th and 19th centuries (Hasted labelled Cooling “as unhealthy as it is unpleasant”!).

Cooling Church was declared redundant in 1976 and is now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and the Friends of Cooling Church. The chair of the Friends, Alison Bucknall, spoke to us before we departed for Cliffe. We are grateful to her and her colleagues for accommodating us on the afternoon of their annual strawberry tea.

Cliffe was a peculiar of the archbishops of Canterbury in the middle ages, and the manor belonged to Christchurch Priory. This accounts for the lavishness of its building and rebuilding in the 13th and 14th centuries. It is a large cruciform church whose many striking features include the long chancel with sedilia, Easter sepulchre and medieval stalls with misericords. Roger Rosewell, an authority on wall paintings, was present and able to tell us about the well-preserved 13th century examples in the transepts. Frank Withers, treasurer of the Cliffe Historical Society, gave an overview of the history of the area, including the fascinating fact that the Thames was fordable here and at Higham nearby until the inundations of the 14th century. In the ensuing discussion this fact gave rise to the interesting suggestion that the painting of the Martyrdom of St Edmund in the north transept may point to Cliffe having been a stopping off point on a medieval pilgrim route from Canterbury to Bury St Edmunds.

The afternoon was brought to a conclusion with a splendid tea kindly laid on by the Revd Jill Wright, associate minister of Cliffe, and her fellow volunteers.