Monument record TQ 77 SE 1363 - Lodge Hill, formerly Cooling Parish, now Hoo St Werburgh Parish.

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)

TQ 7578 7403. The former Lodge Hill House, a large detached Georgian residence situated on Deangate Ridge, has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the English Heritage: Hoo Peninsula Landscape Project. The house, a private dwelling comprising a main central block of two storeys with lower two storey side wings, was aligned along the ridge, with views to the north and south. It was located 210m north of the northern perimeter of Lodge Hill Ordnance Depot (Monument 1077634) and just 40m to the west of the First World War anti aircrft battery (Monument 1442424). The house was evidently not in military use during the First World War, but was occupied whilst the anti aircraft guns were active. Admiralty records indicate that the lessee complained about the sighting of the battery so close to the house. (2-4)

Lodge Hill House was demolished some time in the 1960s: it was visible on aerial photographs as late as 1961, but had disappeared by 1970. (5-7)

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

<2> Lowe, J., Built Heritage Baseline Assessment in respect of Chattenden Barracks and Lodge (Unspecified Type). SKE58961.

<3> M 1/8369/55 Lodge Hill House, Chattenden, Kent. Protection of Magazine by Antiaircraft Artillery. (Archive). SKE58962.

<4> Public Record Office, 1914, PRO: WO 78/4400 Chatham Field Defences 8.11.1914 (Archive). SKE58402.

<5> RAF, 1944, NMR US/7GR/LOC348 2065 27-MAY-1944 (Photograph). SKE55973.

<6> RAF, 1961, NMR RAF/58/4646 0347 28-AUG-1961 (Photograph). SKE56005.

<7> 1970, NMR MAL/70086 173 13-NOV-1970 (Photograph). SKE58963.