ST.
WERBURGH'S
CHURCH
Hoo,
Kent
The largest – and most attractive –
of
the three Hoo
churches, St. Werburgh is also unusual for its naming. St. Werburgh was
the
daughter of Wulfere, King of Mercia and granddaughter of Ercombert,
King of
Kent. She died on 3rd February 700 and only
around 10
churches
anywhere in the UK are dedicated to her.
Unlike both St.
Mary Hoo and Hoo
Allhallows, there is
no
specific evidence for a Saxon founding of this church – barring
the dedication
to a Saxon saint. In fact, the earliest mention is in the mid-12th
Century. By this time the Church was almost certainly a typical late
Norman
three-aisled church and the basic tower may already have been in place
as it
shows signs of being Norman in origin rather than the usual 13th/14th
Century additions common to many English parish churches.
The church was
already large by this
time, particularly
considering that at that time the Hoo Peninsula was a desolate home to
the
dreaded ague (malaria), and so would not have been heavily populated.
Like most of
the churches on the
Peninsula it is thought
that St. Werburgh’s began as a possession of St. Andrew’s
Priory in Rochester.
The 60 foot
spire was added in the late
14th
Century and completes the picture of the church we have today. Or would
if
those pesky Victorians hadn’t arrived and began to rebuild in
their usual
heavy-handed manner. A lot of prime medieval stonework and carving was
destroyed or subsumed by clunky Victorian neo-Gothic.
Luckily some
medieval work survived,
including some ancient
stained glass which can be differentiated by its muted colours next to
the
strident glass of the Victorian period. A number of Tudor and Stuart
fixtures
managed to survive including a number of brasses and at least three
tombs.
Another tomb is dated 1412 belonging to a priest, Richard Bayly –
although he
lost his head, probably during the Commonwealth.
The other
thing which survived the
Victorians was the peel
of bells, the oldest of which is from 1588.
So all in all,
although a bit of a mess
architecturally
speaking, the Church of Hoo St. Werburgh is attractive, even though its
once
rural location is rapidly being swamped by the ever spreading Medway
conurbation.
Photo
- Andrew J. Müller
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Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J.
Müller,
Roy Barton
and Shaun Runham
© Photos and Artwork - Andrew J. and Jacqui Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2018
