Cooling is situated on the north side of the Hoo peninsula and is its smallest parish. Whilst not bordering the Thames, its northern part encompasses low-lying marshland pasture, which rises to the mid-peninsula ridge in the south, with high points at Lodge Hill and Mount Pleasant. The small population is distributed around two small settlements - the village of Cooling and a hamlet at Spendiff - and a number of dispersed farmsteads. Cooling village, in the centre of the parish, is a long-established settlement that contains the remains of a 14th century castle. Unlike Hoo's other settlements, it saw only mininal growth in the 20th century and remains one of the peninsula's unexpanded villages. Spendiff, to its southwest, developed in the 19th century and has agricultural origins. Overall this parish appears to have been largely by-passed by the 19th and 20th industrial development of its neighbours, although a mineral railway and power transmission lines cross it, and a pioneering radio station was built on the marshes in the 1930s. Cooling is a place that is rich in historical associations and retains a prevailing rural character and this Historic Area Assessment provides an overview of its historical development and architectural character.