England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
Hoo St Andrew & St Eustachius

The Parish

The parish of Hoo lies in eastern Suffolk about 6 miles north of the market town & port of Woodbridge. Hoo sits within an extensive area with few major roads, the closes being the B1078 road (Wickham Market to Needham Market) which runs between 2 and 3 miles to Hoo's south. There is very little to modern day Hoo, a scatter of farms and cottages loosely grouped around a crossroads a half mile south of the course of the River Deben. It is likely Hoo was closed parish with most land in the hands of a single owner which prevented inflow and a proper village forming. The parish sits within the floodplain of the Deben and thus would have enjoyed a mixture of arable and pastoral farming, the latter utilising the floodplain. The Deben drains the parish east then south to pass through Woodbridge and thus to the North Sea. Hoo is sited at around 40 metres above the sea, some 20 metres above the Deben, in an area best described as gentle, local heights barely rise a further 20 metres higher. Even by Suffolk standards Hoo parish was one of the smaller, it covered just over 1,200 acres and would have supported around 200 parishioners. In Domesday times Hoo was a holding of Ely Abbey, it could offer 7 ploughs, small meadows & woodland but did possess a mill.

The Church

St Andrew & St Eustachius' church sits close to the hall at the northern end of Church Lane. The dedication is unique in England and refers to a soldier-martyr. There are a couple of windows which indicate an original building of the 13th century but these are almost certainly reused in later work. The plastered porch includes a doorway which can be dated to the 14th century. Most other dateable evidence indicates a building of the late Perpendicular period and probably early 16th century. An internal beam carries a date of 1595 and this is probably indicative of the period in which the roof was refreshed. Pevsner fails to mention a Victorian restoration so perhaps any that occurred was light in touch, work continues, however, with the parapet of the skinny tower having been recently renewed. Church Lane runs north from the main crossroads of the parish then heads across the Deben to Kettleburgh, there is ample verge for a car to park. The churchyard has a hedged border with gated entry and is open and free of photographic obstructions.