In Kent and East Sussex the Old English term hǣð, which became heath in Modern English, was replaced by an unmutated form, hāð, which, over time, evolved into Hoath. The name thus means "heath".[2]
History
Hoath was part of the estate granted by King Ecgberht of Kent in 669 for the foundation of the church at Reculver,[3][4] and remained part of that estate when King Eadred granted it to Archbishop Oda of Canterbury in 949.[5][Fn 1] A chantry either in or connected with Hoath is recorded in the 14th century, with John Gardener as the chaplain, successor to Henry atte Were.[7] On 9 December 1410 Archbishop Thomas Arundel dedicated a chapel to the Virgin Mary and consecrated a burial-ground at Hoath at the request of the inhabitants and his tenants there who, led by Sir Nicholas Haute, Peter Halle Esq. and Richard Hauk, then chaplain of the chantry, promised to observe his ordinances.[8]
Within Hoath there is a small primary school, a camp site called Southview Camping, a public house named the Prince of Wales, and a village hall.
A late medieval church, Holy Cross, stands on Church Road, and was originally a chapel-of-ease for St Mary's Church, Reculver. The building was renovated by Joseph Clarke between 1866 and 1867, when a north aisle was added.[12]
^"[A]s the name [Reculver] is used [in Domesday Book of 1086], it means something larger than the parish but much smaller than the thirteenth-century manor ... It is fairly sure to have included Hoath ..."[6]
^Plea Rolls of the Court of Common Pleas; National Archive; CP 40/541, year 1396 (first entry, with "Kant" in the margin); the dispute concerned whether a situation should be investigated in the secular or ecclesiastical Courts.
Garmonsway, G.N., ed. (1972), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Dent, ISBN0-460-11624-X
Gough, H. (1984), "The cure of souls at Hoath", in McIntosh, K.H.; Gough, H.E. (eds.), Hoath and Herne: The Last of the Forest, K. H. McIntosh, pp. 19–23, ISBN978-0-95024-237-8
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
