The name Hooe, is derived from the Anglo-Saxon Hou, meaning on high ground and the village of Hooe Common is on the South-East coast of England, a little inland and roughly between the coastal towns of Pevensey and Bexhill-on-Sea. It is a parish of around 2,472 acres and 200 properties.
The historian Camden in his work 'Britannia' gives the location of the village as being around the area of The Grove which is on the West side of the Church of St. Oswald's Hooe. The area surrounding the Church is the official area known as 'Hooe' and the present village which has moved away from that area is officially know as 'Hooe Common', although locally the entire area is known as Hooe.
Bounded by streams, 7 of Hooe's nine miles are boundaries of water, many of its acres are flood plains which still often flood in winter. These flood plains were once used as salt-pans, the Doomsday Book tells of four salt-pans in the area, two of which were given to the monks at Battle Abbey. The village of Hooe is in the Battle postal area, as historically it was under the control of the Battle Abbey Estate and the vestry of the Church of St. Oswald's Hooe was quite probably accommodation for monks who worked the salt pans and farmed the area.
The low lying land around the area of Hooe and between Hooe, Wartling and Herstmonceux is under the English Channel high water mark. Waller's Haven, more a narrow river than a stream, on one of the boundaries of Hooe was navigable by shipping up to a dock at Wartling called Puddleduck; this should correctly have been called 'Puddle Dock' but its name has always been known as the former.
