HOO, otherwise ST-WERBURGH, a parish in the
hundred of Hoo, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT,
4 miles (N.B.) from Rochester, containing 960 inhabitants.
The living is a discharged vicarage, in the
archdeaconry and diocese of Rochester, rated in the
king's books at £18. 6,, and in the patronage of the
Dean and Chapter of Rochester. The church is a
handsome stone structure, with a lofty spire, conspicuous
for many miles round. The parish is bounded
on the south by the river Medway, which is here very
broad, and deep enough to float first-rate ships of war.
Abbey court, now a farm-house, was formerly a monastery
subordinate to Leeds abbey, Kent. This parish
possesses the right of sending three poor persons to
Cobham College.