Church History
The church we know as Holy Cross in Hoath was probably built in the reign of Henry III (1216-1272) to save the inhabitants the trouble of travelling to Reculver. However, it was not allowed to bury its dead in the churchyard until 1303. One can imagine the hardship involved in transporting the deceased the four miles to Reculver, particularly during the winter with the ford at Ford in full flow! A century later, in 1310, Hoath at last had its own resident priest. The tower contains three bells, one dated 1500 and the other two 1696. The Parish Register dates back to 1554.
Around 1570, Robert Hunt was born in Hoath. In 1594 he became Vicar of Reculver and Hoath. He later exchanged parishes with one in Heathfield in Sussex. Subsequently, he applied to join an expedition to America for the Virginia Company of London, and on his arrival in the James River in 1607 he celebrated the first Anglian Communion in that land. From this beginning rose the Episcopalian church in the United States.