Cliffe is believed to be one of, if not the oldest settlement on the Hoo Peninsula, with evidence of settlements from the Mesolithic period continuing to the present day. Archaeological evidence verifies the importance of the area especially during both the Romano-British and the better documented Anglo-Saxon periods.
Today it lies in a largely undisturbed geographical landscape which contains important archaeological evidence. The reason for this lack of disturbance being due to the decline of the areas importance due to the waves of plagues from 1348 onwards, malaria, silting of the port and the disposal of the church lands and properties post the reformation.
However, the parish of Cliffe has a hidden history with one of the earliest writings on the history of Cliffe by William Lambarde, (A Perambulation of Kent, 1576) where he mentions that ‘Cliffe is a large town of great importance’ and this is repeated by Richard Kilburn in 1659. Up until the 10th century a ford made crossing the River Thames to Essex possible and, after sea levels rose, a ferry system replaced it. However, with rising sea levels and numerous storm surges, the low laying lands near the Thames became unusable and the process of land reclamation was put into operation. By 1779 Edward Hasted, in his work ‘The History and Topographical History of the County of Kent’ Cliffe was recorded as “once being a larger town than it is now” and continued to describe Cliffe as ‘daily growing into further ruin and poverty, the number of the inhabitants lessening yearly, and several of the houses, for want of them, lying in ruins’.
Looking for a tube.