The hamlet of Bullockstone is about one mile to the west.
History
Medieval history
Archaeological excavations inside St Martin's Church at Herne in 1976, indicated that the first church there was similar to the earliest, Anglo-Saxon examples in Kent, such as those at Rochester, Canterbury, Reculver and Lyminge, and consisted of only a nave and an apsidalchancel.[2][3] The historian Nicholas Brooks noted that the Domesday Monachorum of 1087 or soon after lists Herne as the location of a minster, which is recorded nowhere else.[3][4] Brooks speculated that this referred to the church excavated in 1976, and that it may have been founded in the 7th or 8th century, but perhaps as late as the 11th century.[3] However, he regarded it as "perhaps most likely that the foundation of a [minster] at Herne should be attributed to the tenth century when attempts were being made to recover from the devastation of the Viking incursions."[3] A church at Herne is recorded as having been a chapelry belonging to St Mary's Church, Reculver, until 1310, when it became a parish church.[5]
In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 2269.[6] On 1 April 1934, the parish was abolished and merged with Herne Bay.[7]
Brooks, Nicholas (1984), "The earliest church at Herne", in McIntosh, K.H.; Gough, H.E. (eds.), Hoath and Herne: The Last of the Forest, K. H. McIntosh, p. 14, ISBN978-0-95024-237-8
Bundock, Mike (2007), Historic Herne and Broomfield, Pierhead, ISBN9781904661047
Gough, H. (1992), "Eadred's charter of AD 949 and the extent of the monastic estate at Reculver, Kent", in Ramsay, N.; Sparks, M.; Tatton-Brown, T. (eds.), St Dunstan: His Life, Times and Cult, Boydell, pp. 89–102, ISBN978-0-85115-301-8
Philp, B.; Gough, H. (1976), "Early church discovered at Herne", Kent Archaeological Review (44): 86–91
Sparks, M. (1984a), "Church life in medieval Herne", in McIntosh, K.H.; Gough, H.E. (eds.), Hoath and Herne: The Last of the Forest, K. H. McIntosh, pp. 24–9, ISBN978-0-95024-237-8
Sparks, M. (1984b), "Sir John Fyneux: A Herne worthy", in McIntosh, K.H.; Gough, H.E. (eds.), Hoath and Herne: The Last of the Forest, K. H. McIntosh, pp. 24–9, ISBN978-0-95024-237-8