High Halstow

High Halstow
Population	1,781
OS grid reference	TQ780754
Civil parish	High Halstow
Unitary authority	Medway
Ceremonial county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	ROCHESTER
Postcode district	ME3
Dialling code	01634
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	Medway to be replaced 2007 by Rochester and Strood

High Halstow is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula in the borough of Medway in northern Kent, England. The parish had a population of 1,781 according to the 2001 census.

Originally known as Hagelstowe, Hagelsto or Agelstow it was named from an Saxon word denoting holy place. The area has been occupied by Romans, Saxons and Normans.

The village on the junction of the ancient roads from Hoo and Cliffe to the Isle of Grain, now a crossroads to the north of the A228 road. One of the highest points on the Hoo peninsula, at 30 to 50 metres above sea level, the modern village consolidates into a single community the four the hamlets of Clinch Street, Fenn Street, Sharnal Street and High Halstow Street.

History

File:High halstow church.jpg

The 10th-century St Margaret's Church, High Halstow, looking east.

The 10th-century church of St Margaret at High Halstow was referred to in the Doomsday Book of 1086, and was built on the highest point of the Hoo Peninsula, overlooking the rivers of the Thames and Medway.

In the 18th century poverty and malnutrition was widespread across the peninsula, with High Halstow no exception; adult life expectancy was then about 30 years, lessened by ague, or marsh fever, a result of malaria proliferating on the marshes and waterlogged farmland, a stronghold of the mosquito. The cause of malaria was discovered in 1890, and within five years the number of people falling ill with the disease reduced sharply as farmland and marshes were drained. This task was performed in no small way by Henry Pye, after he moved to the area.

The village remained small until after the Second World War, comprising the church, a school, two shops, a pub, a wheelwright's business, an undertaker and a policeman. At first some of the older houses were demolished and replaced. Churchill Place was developed and in the area behind the church, formerly known as the Square, several modern bungalows replaced five thatched cottages. From 1952 more homes were built in the village to house Isle of Grain oil refinery employees.

High Halstow has become generally a farming area, but some of its residents gained employment outside the village, at the Royal Navy Armament Depot at Lodge Hill, Chattenden, and the Medway Oil and Storage Co at Grain. Chatham Dockyard and the Short Brothers seaplane works at Rochester were traditional employers for the whole area until they shut many years ago.

In 1956 a new school opened, the old school building being demolished along with Hill Farm to make way for additional housing. Building development has continued intermittently until the new estates of Northwood Park and Heron Fields started in 1998-9.

The village still has its church, a shop and pub (the Red Dog) but has changed beyond recognition in living memory. It is now a most pleasant and healthy place to live, were residents enjoy the beauty and tranquillity of the North Kent Marshes just beyond the village.

Its cricket club has played in the area for almost 120 years, encapturing the traditional view of village cricket. Ever expanding, the club now has three Saturday sides and plays its home matches at Rayner's Meadow, situated in Christmas Lane.

Northwood Hill RSPB Reserve

Northwood Hill RSPB Reserve lies to the north of the village between High Halstow and Cooling and comprises 270 hectares (667 acres) of grazing marsh, woodland and farmland. Here is the largest heronry in Britain, where some 150-200 pairs of the birds nest. A heronry has been in the woods from at least 1947, when it was mentioned in a book on the Hundred of Hoo by Ralph Arnold. This site was scheduled for demolition under government proposals for an international London airport. (See Thames Gateway). Many other birds, such as little egrets, avocets and marsh harriers, can also be seen in the reserve.

Northwood Hill, or Northward, was known once locally as "the Norrards". beyond which on the marsh is a disused experimental radar station, now part of the reserve.

Buck Hole Farmhouse

Buck Hole Farmhouse is next to Northward Hill reserve, and another Grade II-listed farmhouse dates from the early 18th century.

External link

• Northwood Hill RSPB Reserve