Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment of Cooling Parish. This feature comprises a substantial house, Lodge Hill, built c1760 by Samuel Clay Harvey and a separate farmstead was located nearby. The site was reused for First World War and Second World War military purposes. It was formerly located in Cooling Parish and now in Hoo St Werburgh Parish.

Monument Types

• GREAT HOUSE (Post Medieval to Modern - 1760 AD? to 2050 AD?)

Full description

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This feature is recorded in the English Heritage Historic Area Assessment for Cooling Parish. The report states that the third part of the divided manor of Cooling was Cowling Lodge."Several references to Culings or Culinge occur in the 9th and 10th centuries, relating to the granting of land and in 1066 the lordship was held by Earl Leafwyne, the brother of King Harald. Up to this point Cooling formed part of the Great Manor of Hoo (within the Lathe of Aylesford) but after the conquest it became a manor in its own right. Administratively it lay within the Hundred of Shamel, while its eastern neighbour, High Halstow, was part of the Hundred of Hoo. Ownership of the manor stayed mainly with the crown until obtained by the de Cobham family in 1241. It then descended through various branches of the de Cobham and Brooke family until 1643 when the mannor at Cooling (sometimes spelt Cowling) was divided among the three daughters of William Brooke. This created three estates, which Edward Hasted identified as Cowling Castle, New Barn, and Cowling Lodge….Its land occupied the crest of the ridge with 'a most extensive prospect on all sides' and views to both the Medway and the Thames. Construction of a substantial house, Lodge Hill, was begun here in c 1760 by Samuel Clay Harvey and a separate farmstead was located nearby…Lodge Hill Farm which now lies within the parish of Hoo St Werburgh after a boundary change, and the c 1760s house at Lodge Hill were acquired by the military in the late 19th century. The house, once perhaps the grandest in the parish, was uninhabited in 1969 and 'the setting for bomb disposal practice'. Its environs contain the remains of First World War anti-aircraft batteries. The military complex at Lodge Hill and Chattenden was undergoing major redevelopment at the time of the assessment" (1)

<1> historic england, 2014, Hoo Peninsula Outline Historic Area Assessment: Cooling Parish. Research Report 51-2014. (Bibliographic reference). SKE31592.

Sources and further reading