Cliffe, Kent

Historical Description

Cliffe or Cliffe-at-Hoo, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the edge of the chalk ridges, overhanging the marshes of the Thames, with a station on the S.E.R.y 29 miles from London, and 5¼ N of Rochester. It has a post, money order, and telegraph office under Rochester. It was anciently an important place. The parish comprises 5622 acres of land and 2139 of tidal water and foreshore; population, 2595. The manor belonged from a very early period till the dissolution to Christ Church, Canterbury, and belongs now to Earl Darnley. Much of the land is marshy. Chalk is quarried, whiting and cement are made, and there is a canal communication with the Thames. A battery was built in 1865. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester; net value, £425 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church is cruciform, and chiefly Early English; has an embattled tower; contains stalls, some early frescoes, and an ancient silver-gilt paten; and has been partly restored.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient County	Kent
Ecclesiastical parish	Cliffe St. Helen
Hundred	Shamwell
Lathe	Aylesford
Poor Law union	North Aylesford

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Church Records

The registers date from the year 1558.

Findmypast have the following online for Cliffe at Hoo, St Helen: baptisms 1558-1915, marriages 1558-1935, burials 1558-1936

Findmypast have the following online for Cliffe, St Helen: baptisms 1775-1851, marriages 1558-1919, burials 1775-1851

Churches

Church of England

St. Helen (parish church)

The Church of St. Helen, standing on the brow of an eminence, is in the Early English and later styles, and has a western tower containing a clock, and 8 bells re-cast in 1859: in the north transept is an ancient doorway, said to have belonged to the original Saxon fabric: the nave, transepts, and tower date from 1265: there are some remains of stained glass, probably of the 14th century, two screens of the 14th century, and miserere seats in the choir: the sedilia and wall paintings are of the 13th century: the pulpit of wood, finely carved, has an hour-glass stand, and is dated 1634: there is a brass to Thomas Faunce, ob 1609, and his two wives, and some matrices of other brasses: the communion plate includes a paten of silver gilt and enamel, of the time of Edward I.: in 1884 the nave and north aisle were restored and the east window renewed, and in 1897 the church was restored at a cost of about £4,000: there are 590 sittings.

Methodist

Cliffe Methodist Chapel

There is a Wesleyan chapel, built in 1901, to seat about 300 persons.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Cliffe from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Cliffe (St. Helen))

Maps

Online maps of Cliffe are available from a number of sites:

Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
Google Streetview.
National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
OpenStreetMap.
old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.

County	Medway
Region	South East
Country	England
Postal district	ME3
Post Town	Rochester