My Adventures 3: London Stone

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On Monday the 9th March 2020 I left home and drove just over 50 odd minutes to Allhallows On Sea. I parked up in the road outside The British Pilot Pub free of charge. Put on my boots, new Merrel Vego boots and their first outing. Very comfy too straight out of the box!

I set off down the footpath at the end of the road towards the Seawall.

Allhallows village is in two parts: the ancient Hoo All Hallows and the 20th century holiday colony Allhallows-on-Sea.

Hoo All Hallows is clustered round the parish church of All Saints, from which the village takes its name: Hallow meaning Saint. The Hoo (in 1285 written Ho) refers to a spur of land, and is thus a common element of place names on the spur or peninsula. Hoo All Hallows' parish registers date from 1629, and in 1841 the population was recorded as 268 people.

I follow the path through Allhallows marsh.

View across the Thames Estuary to Southend On Sea

View across to the Isle of Grain

As I walk across the Marshes, I see several skylarks rise with their cresendo song before falling to the ground. A delightful bird to watch and listen to.

I now reach the seawall and follow the path to my right.

Allhallows or Hoo Allhallows comes from the Old English ‘hōh’ meaning a ‘heel; sharp projecting piece of ground’ and ‘hālga’ as a ‘saint’; therefore a ‘spur of land’ with the affix from the church of All Saints.

The Romans used the nearby Yantlet creek for trade, although due to silting its viability as a trading route diminished. Sited at the mouth of the creek is the London Stone, erected by the Victorians, it replaced a much earlier marker of 1285. The marker, which has its opposite number on the Essex shoreline, depicts the boundary of the City of London's conservators administration over the river, as granted by Edward I’s charter of 1285.

View to Southend On Sea

After the First World War, the Kent and London County Councils planned to redevelop Allhallows, to rival that of Blackpool. According to newspaper reports at the time, the amusement park was to be four times bigger than the one at the northern resort. There would also be a zoo, yachting centre and a lido with artificial waves, the first such pool in Europe. The development, which would have covered more than two and a half square miles, had plans to include a holiday camp, restaurants, theatres and cinemas. Unfortunately, due primarily to the outbreak of the Second World war, the councils eventually abandoned the project.

However, Allhallows-on-Sea railway station opened on 16 May 1932, in preparation for thousands of expected visitors to the resort. In the first year of opening, the line carried 6500 passenger, much to the encouragement of the railway, who proceeded with improvements to the station. Sadly, that level of demand was never to be repeated, and the station closed in 1961.

On the morning of 15 October 1940, Pilot Officer J W Lund bailed out of his Spitfire R6642 following an altercation with a Messerschmitt Bf109. The aircraft crashed on the shoreline of the River Medway near Allhallows at 11.50am. The Navy rescued the pilot, although his aircraft remained a wreck on the tidal mudflats of the village until the summer of 1998.

I take a moment to sit on the shell covered beach,with the wind on my face and no sound other than the waves rolling in and the occasional waders call. Sheer bliss!

To the right of the iron structure you can just make out the outlibe of a London Stone off Yantlet Creek.

Yantlet Creek is on the Isle of Grain: flat marshlands where Dickens set the opening scenes of his Great Expectations, and the eerie atmosphere of that book has echoes today.

A bit of background information,

"The City's rights of control were originally purchased from Richard I in 1197 and concerned control of fisheries and tolls along the River Thames and part of the Medway. The legal position on the capital's ownership was never clear and the City's jurisdiction was frequently challenged. The locations of the London Stones were visited by the Lord Mayor of London and other officials on their periodic visits to assert the City's conservancy jurisdiction. These river trips included ceremonies undertaken at the stones, pomp and excitement with spectators rewarded with beer, wine and newly minted coins. All of these served to instill the position of such boundaries in the minds of those who needed to observe them. These visits became social events with dinners and balls held in either Rochester or Southend-on-Sea close to another London Stone called the Crow Stone at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. This, along with Yantlet Creek and Upnor, marked the south and eastern boundary of the City's control (Howe, G.W 1965, 282-287; Anon 1816, 3; Anon 1836, 3).

City of London obelisks were erected at Upnor, Leigh and Yantlet Creek to reassert these rights following a government select committee held in 1836. This concluded that London should lose its jurisdiction over the Thames and Medway due to laxity in carrying out its duties (Weinreb & Hibbert 1995, p. 883). These obelisks may have been symbolic in adding legality and permanence to the City's claims of jurisdiction. Damage to the banks of the Medway and problems to navigation were highlighted to the Lord Mayor during his 1856 septennial visit (Anon, 1856, 11). The fall in revenue for maintenance may have been due to competition from the railways (Thacker, 1914,pp. 188-9). Yantlet was the final obelisk to be erected by the City of London the same year.

The City lost control of these rivers to the Crown in 1857 under The Thames Conservancy Act. These stones have therefore become memorials to the points in the landscape where the boundaries of London's reach were along the Thames and Medway. They are memorials to points in the landscape where the excitement and ceremony of the Mayoral septennial customs was experienced."

Next to the London Stone is much larger structure, the marker to the entrance to the creek,.

No shortage of shells on this beach

Memorial Stone by Yantlet Creek

This stone marks the completion of the raising of the Thames Flood Defences between 1975 and 1985.

Shelducks

I reach where I must cross, a narrow spit of land, surrounded by water on either side. I can see Binney Farm ahead. The crossing consists of deep, sticky mud.

I follow a footpath to Binney Farm and then into Allhallows itself.

The path is very muddy. Obviously hordes of cattle have travelled this way. the footpath itself is churned up by hundreds of deep footprints. I make my way across the marshy field.

I am now approaching Binney Farm.

From what I read online, looks like this farm may not be around for much longer, real shame. See below;

Clague’s design for new homes on farmland on the Hoo Peninsula has been granted approval by Medway Council. Binney Farm, Allhallows, was home to a series of dilapidated farm buildings, including stable blocks, a milking parlour and an old steel barn. The new homes, to be located on the eastern edge of the village, will consist of three 2-bedroom, five 3-beds and one 4-bed detached house. The designs are inspired by the surroundings, drawing upon agricultural and rural aesthetics to carefully reflect the environment.

Shelduck

I walk by a body of water than is covered in birds, I saw Shelduck,Little egrets,Mute Swans,Black Headed gulls and more!

Mute Swans

Pied Wagtail

A sign that Spring is on its way!

I follow a path to a road that leads me up to All Saints Church in Allhallows.

All Saints' Church itself dates from the 12th century. It is the only Grade I listed building on the Hoo Peninsula and is built of flint and stone with a lead roof. It has a west tower, north and south porches to the nave, and a chancel. The earliest part is the west end of the nave, followed by the south arcade. The north arcade dates from the early 13th century, while the chancel arch and screen are 14th century. Money was left in 1472 "to the werkes of the body of the church", possibly to the nave.The chancel was heavily restored in 1886–91. A notice in the church announces, "Previously scheduled for demolition under proposals for a London orbital international airport", referring to the 2004 putative Cliffe airport scheme.

Allhallows parish church is dedicated to All Saints. The Normans built it in the 12th century, and rebuilt in 1252 as a Chapel-of-Ease to St Warburgh until 1327 when the Bishop of Rochester made it a parish in its own right. The architect Ewan Christian restored the church in the 1880’s.

One of a few gargoyles on the church.

I leave the church and follow the road to a t-junction where I cross and take a path that leads me to a footpath heading back to the Seafront and through Allhallows Caravan Park.