High Halstow

"HIGH HALSTOW, a parish in the hundred of Hoo, lathe of Aylesford, county Kent, 6 miles N. of Rochester, and 6 N.E. of Higham railway station. It is situated on rising ground near the banks of the Thames, by which the meadows were formerly overflowed, but are now embanked. The land is nearly evenly divided between arable and pasture, with about 80 acres of wood, chiefly oak and elm. In the marshes are reed beds, and about 60 acres of salts outside the river walls. The village is small and wholly agricultural. Opposite the Blythe Sands is a coastguard station. The Mean is a tract of land belonging in halves to High Halstow and St. Mary Hoo. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Rochester, value £602. The church is dedicated to St. Margaret."

[Transcribed from The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland 1868 by Colin Hinson ©2010]