Timeline - Cliffe History

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Chronological Notes

 
600, church built at Lilliechurch

 
600, monks from St. Andrews build church at Old Rectory- farming fields stayed the same until 1853

 
742 - 824, church councils, Cloveshoo, supposedly  held at Cliffe

 
774, charter by Offa - King of Mercia- giving land to Canterbury

 
774, Saxon charter shows that Cliffe church was founded by King Offa who also choses the dedicatory saint of St. Helen

 
961, Queen Eadgfiu gives land to Christ Church, Canterbury

 
1100, sea walls to built to control the Thames

 
1151, King Stephen founds a nunnery at Lillechurch
 
1275-88, Prioress Amfelisia reprimanded for not keeping the causeway to the crossing up to scratch
 
1247, Royal charter to hold a fair lasting three days – St. Aigidius’s Day
 
1250, marshes begin to be ‘reclaimed’
 
1260, present church built

 
1260, the Saxon church was replaced by one of stone
 
1270, Prioress Acelina in dispute with her nuns – King Henry III had to be called in
 
1290, King Edward directed the maintenance of the sea walls should be shared
 
1301, ship sent to aid King Edward I in Scottish waters
 
1310, the building of the hall at the Old Rectory
 
1326, Cliffe port mentioned again
 
1337, repairs to the nunnery
 
1346, just prior to this date - King Edward III assembled a fleet of 1500+ ships – 2 came from Cliffe
 
1350, modernisation of the church
 
1380, 80 ton vessel stationed at Cliffe
 
1417, two ships were ordered by Henry V against the French
 
1520, the supposed ‘Great Fire of Cliffe’
 
1585, single bell hung at St. Helen’s Church
 
1679, John Browne leaves money so that 12 poor children should be educated
 
1730, roof of nave destroyed
 
1824, cutting of canal
 
1840, Redham Mead is referred to as the great mead and not as marshland
 
1845, railway arrived
 
1845, population of Cliffe down to 877 from a high of c. 3000 in 1520
 
1854, first national school built in Cliffe
 
1862, bells cast for church
 
1864, two more bells added to church
 
1864, wall paintings in Cliffe church uncovered during restoration work
 
1868, cement works opened by West Street
 
1882, railway line and station opened
 
1894, first meeting of Cliffe Parish Council
 
1901, construction of explosive works
 
1901, population over 3000
 
1904, first fire engine for Cliffe village
 
1914, another cement works opened –in Salt Lane
 
1914, first ever dog-fight over Kent was above Cliffe
 
1914, Cliffe first village to be bombed in Kent  - on Christmas Day
 
1930, Jessop locates wharf + quality of Roman pottery
 
1931, electricity powers street lighting
 
1942, crash of a Stirling bomber in Rye Street

1946, De Havilland DH108 Swallow crashes ay Eygpt Bay killing test pilot Geoffrey De Havilland Jnr.

1964, Ordnance Survey team find Roman salterns by Cliffe Creek
 
1968, the building of the Cliffe Memorial Hall
 
1969, final part of Prior’s Hall manorial lands sold the Port of London Authority
 
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