Cliffe, Kent

Cliffe and Cliffe Woods is a civil parish in the borough of Medway in Kent, England. The parish is located on the Hoo Peninsula and comprises the villages of Cliffe and the suburb, Cliffe Woods. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish was 5,370. In the west of the Cliffe and Cliffe Woods parish are the Cliffe Pools.

Cliffe (TQ 738 748 51°26′44″N 0°30′07″E) was a railway station between Uralite Halt and High Halstow Halt on the Hundred of Hoo Railway in Kent, England. It was opened on 1 April 1882 and closed to passengers on 4 December 1961 and freight on 20 August 1962. It originally only had one platform, a second platform was built in 1935. The station was demolished soon after closure although one track through the station site remains and still carries freight traffic.

The North Kent Marshes are in the far north of the county of Kent spanning dry and wet south banks and inlets of the Thames Estuary in south-east England. The marshes are one of 22 Environmentally Sensitive Areas recognised by the UK's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). They are in the Thames Gateway regional planning area. They include the 5,289-hectare (20.4 sq mi) South Thames Estuary and Marshes biological SSSI.

Cooling Castle is a 14th-century quadrangular castle in the village of Cooling, Kent on the Hoo Peninsula about 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Rochester. It was built in the 1380s by the Cobham family, the local lords of the manor, to guard the area against French raids into the Thames Estuary. The castle has an unusual layout, comprising two walled wards of unequal size next to each other, surrounded by moats and ditches. It was the earliest English castle designed for the use of gunpowder weapons by its defenders. Despite this distinction, the use of gunpowder weapons against the castle proved devastating. It was captured after only eight hours when Sir Thomas Wyatt besieged it in January 1554 during his unsuccessful rebellion against Queen Mary. His attack badly damaged the castle, and it was subsequently abandoned and allowed to fall into disrepair. A farmhouse and outbuildings were constructed among the ruins a century later. Today the farmhouse is the home of the musician Jools Holland, while the nearby barn is used as a wedding venue.

Cliffe Woods is a small estate on the Hoo Peninsula in the unitary authority of Medway in South East England. It was, until 1998, part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. It forms part of the parish of Cliffe and Cliffe Woods.

Medway was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1983 and 2010. A previous constituency of the same name existed from 1885 to 1918.

Cooling is a village and civil parish on the Hoo Peninsula, overlooking the North Kent Marshes, 6 miles north northwest of Rochester, England. According to the 2001 census the parish had a population of 209, which increased to 216 at the 2011 Census.Cooling was recorded in the Domesday Book when it was held by Bishop Odo of Bayeux (half-brother of William the Conqueror). The most notable surviving feature of the village is Cooling Castle, built on the edge of the marshes during the 12th century to defend the neighbouring port of Cliffe from the threat of French raiders.

St James' Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Cooling, Kent, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands in the Hoo peninsula, 6 miles (10 km) north of Rochester, with only marshland to the north between it and the River Thames.

St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the village of Higham, Kent, England. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed building, and is under the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. The church stands at the north of Lower Higham, in the hamlet of Church Street, some 4 miles (6 km) northwest of Rochester.

Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill is a 351-hectare (870-acre) biological Site of Special Scientific Interest north of Rochester in Kent.This site has diverse habitats, including ancient semi-natural woodland, grassland and scrub. There are nationally important numbers of nightingales in the woodland and scrub during the breeding season, and invertebrates include nationally scarce moths.Public footpaths go through the woods.

Cliffe Fort is a disused artillery fort built in the 1860s to guard the entrance to the Thames from seaborne attack. Constructed during a period of tension with France, it stands on the south bank of the river at the entrance to Cliffe Creek in the Cliffe marshes on the Hoo Peninsula in North Kent, England. Its location on marshy ground caused problems from the start and necessitated changes to its design after the structure begin to crack and subside during construction. The fort was equipped with a variety of large-calibre artillery guns which were intended to support two other nearby Thamesside forts. A launcher for the Brennan torpedo—which has been described as the world's first practical guided missile—was installed there at the end of the 19th century but was only in active use for a few years. Cliffe Fort saw about 60 years of usage as an artillery fort, from its completion in 1870 to its disarmament in 1927. It was repurposed during World War II to serve as an anti-aircraft battery on the approaches to London. The fort's military career ended when it was sold off after the war to the owners of a neighbouring aggregates works. Today it lies derelict, overgrown and heavily flooded. It is not accessible to the public and is in a poor and slowly deteriorating condition which has led it to be listed as an "at risk" heritage asset.

Chattenden is a village within the civil parish of Hoo, which is within the unitary authority of Medway, Kent, England. It was, until 1998, part of Kent and is still ceremonially associated via the Lieutenancies Act. The A228 goes through the village.