Romney Marsh

Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the 18th century. Due to its location, geography and isolation, it was a smuggler's paradise between the 1600s and 1800s. The area has long been used for sheep pasture: Romney Marsh sheep are considered one of the most successful and important sheep breeds. Criss-crossed with numerous waterways, and with some areas lying below sea level, the Marsh has over time sustained a gradual level of reclamation, both through natural causes and by human intervention. An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward had a population of 2,358 at the 2011 census. “As Egypt was the gift of the Nile, this level tract ... has by the bounty of the sea been by degrees added to the land, so that I may not without reason call it the Gift of the Sea." (from Britannia by William Camden 1551–1623) "The world according to the best geographers is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Romney Marsh" from Ingoldsby Legends, Reverend Richard Harris Barham (Rector of Snargate) Romney Marsh is flat and low-lying, with parts below sea level. It consists of several areas: the Romney Marsh proper, lying north of a line between New Romney and Appledore; the Walland Marsh, south of that line to approximately the Kent/East Sussex border; the East Guldeford Level, south again to Rye; the Denge Marsh, south-east of Lydd, which now includes Denge Beach and Dungeness; the Rother Levels, which, with various ditches, lie around the Isle of Oxney; and the Rye, Winchelsea and Pett Levels. The River Rother today flows into the sea below Rye, but until 1287 its mouth lay between Romney and Lydd. It was tidal far upstream, almost to Bodiam. The river mouth was wide with a huge lagoon, making Rye a port at its western end. That lagoon lay behind a large island, which now makes up a large part of the Denge Marsh, on which stood the ports of Lydd and the old Winchelsea.