St Laurence Church, Hougham
Hougham church had its origins in the seventh century although no trace of the early building can be seen today. There are some large yew trees in the grounds, often a sign of an ancient place of worship. The building we see now is made up mainly of good Norman and early English work, greatly restored in Victorian times. It was constructed at the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. Built from the flints and stones found in abundance in the immediate neighbourhood, with the addition of some Kentish ragstone and import caen stone used at angles and openings.
Robert de Hougham was responsible for much of the early restoration work. He was the grandson of Willaim D’Avranches who came to England with William, Duke of Normandy in 1066. After defeating King Harold Godwinson’s army at the Battle of Hastings, Willaim D’Avranches was made Lord of the manor of Hougham, an Anglo Saxon manor near Dover.
Robert de Hougham – as he was now known – was a Crusader who fought with King Richard I (the ‘Lionheart’) at the Siege of Acre in the north of the Holy Land between August 1189 and July 1191. He appears to be the only crusader from the Dover area to be named as such and he was one of the few to survive the rigours of crusading. Perhaps it was in appreciation of his survival that he undertook the rebuilding of the church in Hougham, which he found in a ruinous state on his return to England.
The church was once even larger than it is now, and is in very peaceful position only accessible by narrow country lanes. Like so many other villages, it could well have been the plague that caused it to be vacated. When the plague raged in London in 1665, it was brought to Dover, and great numbers died there of the disease in the following years, the burial of whom a piece of ground was bought in the parish. It is estimated that upwards of nine hundred souls were buried in what is now known simply as ‘the Graves’.
St Laurence Church, Hougham
Hougham church had its origins in the seventh century although no trace of the early building can be seen today. There are some large yew trees in the grounds, often a sign of an ancient place of worship. The building we see now is made up mainly of good Norman and early English work, greatly restored in Victorian times. It was constructed at the end of the eleventh or beginning of the twelfth century. Built from the flints and stones found in abundance in the immediate neighbourhood, with the addition of some Kentish ragstone and import caen stone used at angles and openings.
Robert de Hougham was responsible for much of the early restoration work. He was the grandson of Willaim D’Avranches who came to England with William, Duke of Normandy in 1066. After defeating King Harold Godwinson’s army at the Battle of Hastings, Willaim D’Avranches was made Lord of the manor of Hougham, an Anglo Saxon manor near Dover.
Robert de Hougham – as he was now known – was a Crusader who fought with King Richard I (the ‘Lionheart’) at the Siege of Acre in the north of the Holy Land between August 1189 and July 1191. He appears to be the only crusader from the Dover area to be named as such and he was one of the few to survive the rigours of crusading. Perhaps it was in appreciation of his survival that he undertook the rebuilding of the church in Hougham, which he found in a ruinous state on his return to England.
The church was once even larger than it is now, and is in very peaceful position only accessible by narrow country lanes. Like so many other villages, it could well have been the plague that caused it to be vacated. When the plague raged in London in 1665, it was brought to Dover, and great numbers died there of the disease in the following years, the burial of whom a piece of ground was bought in the parish. It is estimated that upwards of nine hundred souls were buried in what is now known simply as ‘the Graves’.