123 - Romney Marshes : Description

Physical and functional links to other National Character Areas

The flat topography of the Romney Marshes National Character Area (NCA) allows for long views across to neighbouring, higher NCAs. To the north-west, the rising wooded landscape of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) is visible, forming a distinctive backdrop to the NCA. Along the coast to the south and east there are wide views towards the neighbouring High Weald and Wealden Greensand NCAs.

The catchments of the rivers Rother, Brede and Tillingham drain into the NCA from the elevated High Weald NCA to the west, flowing into the English Channel. In the High Weald NCA where the rivers originate, the impermeable clay and silt layers of the Hastings Beds Group give rise to rapid run-off and quickly responding watercourses following rainfall events. Maintaining flows in the Rother catchment is important due to the dependency of Walland Marsh on water transferred into the Royal Military Canal from the Rother, hence the High Weald and Romney Marshes NCAs are inextricably linked in terms of water resources. The Royal Military Canal is predominantly within this NCA but passes through into Wealden Greensand before it terminates at Seabrook. It provides a continuous corridor linking the two NCAs.

Coastal processes are complex. The area forms part of a wider sediment cell where there is generally eastward transport of sand and shingle driven by the predominant south-westerly winds. This area is a particularly good example of the dynamic nature of natural sediment transport processes however the use of shingle beaches as part of coastal risk management activities needs to be carefully managed in a strategic and reactive way and monitored to understand and avoid any potential negative effects on the environment both here and throughout the coastal cell.

Dungeness Power Station forms a prominent landmark on the coastline. Widely visible from other NCAs, the power station and its transmission lines that extend out from the NCA provide energy for the National Grid. Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm is also a prominent landmark on the skyline across the area and can be seen from adjoining NCAs.

The A259 links settlements along the eastern coast and then across the centre of the NCA to Rye. The other major road is the A2070, which provides an easy access route into the Low Weald and Wealden Greensand NCAs, including the urban area of Ashford. The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (claimed to be the world’s smallest railway) extends from Hythe in the Wealden Greensand NCA down to Dungeness and is popular with tourists and day visitors, as it links the coastal towns.

Distinct areas

• Dungeness
• Rother and Brede valleys

The Romney Marshes today

The Romney Marshes NCA has a distinctive windswept feel, with flat, open marshland divided by an irregular network of drainage ditches. The name is used collectively for several areas of marsh, including Romney and Walland marshes, Denge Marsh and the East Guldeford and Pett levels. The landscape has been heavily influenced by the natural process of sediment deposition behind large shingle promontories and many years of reclamation for agricultural use. In this extremely flat and open landscape, the only real diversity in land cover is provided by the raised ground and clumps of trees of the marshland hamlets such as Old Romney and Newchurch.

Dungeness, at the southerly tip of the Romney Marshes, is the largest shingle cuspate foreland in Europe, and the extensive low-lying shingle and sand beaches, ridges and salt marsh provide a real sense of isolation and remoteness, especially along the coast. Sand dunes are found at Camber Sands, Greatstone and Romney Warren and support rare and scarce plant species. The predominant soilscape is one of loamy and clayey soils, which have high agricultural potential.

The western half of the NCA is crossed by the rivers Rother and Brede, which flow from the higher ground of the High Weald NCA and provide potable water and irrigation. Irrigation is managed through an extensive network of drainage ditches. A freshwater shingle aquifer underlying the region also provides a local water supply. The Royal Military Canal, a heritage feature in its own right, built in defence against Napoleon, also has distinctive vegetation and invertebrate life. It forms an important component of the open water network and, along with the wider ditch system, plays a critical role in regulating drainage and irrigation of the marshes, helping to sustain agriculture and acting as a reservoir of water. Extensive areas of open water exist around Rye Harbour and Denge Marsh, the result of flooding of past gravel pits in the area. In addition, a unique habitat of freshwater pits occurs at Dungeness, which are a further source of potable water.

Woodland tree cover is very sparse across the NCA and is generally limited to clumps and belts around settlements on the slightly higher ground and to the random lines, groups and individual trees set within the wider landscape. The wet, waterlogged conditions typically support tree species such as willow and ash. Holmstone Beach, near Lydd, has a holly wood internationally recognised as the only holly wood to be found on anywhere on shingle.

Much of the reclaimed marshland is of high agricultural quality due to the productive loams formed from the alluvial deposits; hence the area is farmed intensively. Although this is an area of mixed farming, it is the extensive swathes of arable that dominate the landscape, indicative of the drained, rich, productive soils suited to cropping. These areas are important for farmland birds (Kent Bird Report, Kent Ornithological Society, 2010), supporting what is possibly Kent’s only breeding population of tree sparrows, alongside other species such as corn bunting and yellowhammer. In contrast, the areas of grazing marsh, much reduced from their former extent due to drainage, support wintering and breeding waterfowl where water level management allows for wetter pastures, most notably on Walland Marsh.

The unique geomorphology of the shingle hosts wildlife of international importance, with numerous rare and scarce plant and insect species such as stinking hawk’s beard and Sussex emerald moth; sea kale and yellow horned poppy bring a splash of summer colour to the shingle beaches. The level of designations afforded to this coastal landscape and its hinterland (Special Protection Area (SPA), Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), proposed Ramsar site and National Nature Reserve) is a testament to the great diversity of the habitats and species within this NCA and their importance to international biodiversity and geodiversity. These include sand dune systems, salt marshes, grazing marsh, reedbeds and extensive mudflats and sand flats. In addition, low-lying hollows in the shingle provide nationally important saline lagoons, and natural freshwater pits. These habitats have an important role in providing nesting, feeding and roost sites for a variety of breeding, wintering and passage birds and support a diversity of vascular plants, bryophytes and invertebrates. The irrigation ditches support a number of rare wetland plants and animals; these include the medicinal leech, found at only a few sites in the UK, important populations of water vole, and plants such as sharp leaved pondweed and greater water parsnip.

The valleys of the Rother and Brede extend from the adjacent High Weald NCA. These valleys have a rich natural and historic environment, totalling about 9,149 ha, or nearly 25 per cent of the NCA. They fall within the High Weald AONB. In the east, a small section of the NCA (about 1,017 ha, or nearly 3 per cent of the NCA) falls within the Kent Downs AONB, an area locally known as the Lympne Escarpment.

The piecemeal nature of the scattered settlements and the long, straight, open roads linking them together reflect the influence of the reclamation process. Impoundment of the marshes was a gradual process, with each landowner reclaiming small areas at a time (‘inning’). Roads tend to be raised above the surrounding land, forming visual divisions in the landscape. The distinctive architectural character of the settlements revolves around the widespread use of brick, weatherboarding and hung tiles, with some splendid churches set among the buildings. There are some fine medieval churches across the marsh, and a high number of isolated and lost church sites. Structures of particular note are the defensive Martello towers along the coast and the Royal Military Canal at the base of the former sea cliffs, both relict features of the Napoleonic Wars. Urban areas constitute only a small area of the NCA. Mainly restricted to the coast, they include the ancient towns and Cinque Ports of Lydd, New Romney, Rye and Winchelsea. These were awarded their special status during the Middle Ages and had an obligation to provide the Crown with men and ships for the defence of the realm in times of war.

Dungeness Point is dominated by the imposing nuclear power station sites and their associated transmission lines that extend inland from the coast, forming the backdrop to many a view both within and outside the NCA boundaries. The military has historically been an important presence in the area, and today the Military of Defence is a major landowner on the shingle foreland at Lydd and Hythe ranges. In addition, commercial fishing fleets at Rye and on Dungeness Point, Lydd Airport, military firing ranges at Lydd and Hythe, ongoing gravel extraction from the shingle, and the Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm all make their mark on the landscape.

Tourism is an important industry for the NCA, with people visiting the ancient towns of Rye and New Romney. The coast, with its sandy beaches such as those at Camber Sands, Dymchurch and Greatstone, is also a magnet for holidaymakers and day-trippers. There are many large caravan parks along the coast. Good cycle tracks and footpath networks take visitors from the coast into the marshes. The Royal Military Canal also attracts tourists and has the potential for further recreational development to benefit the local community economically and relieve visitor pressure on coastal areas. Sea angling and beach fishing are very important at Dungeness, and watersports such as kiteboarding and other water-based activities are popular, particularly at Broomhill on the south coast and along the east coast. The area also attracts large numbers of birdwatchers at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ (RSPB’s) Dungeness Nature Reserve, along the coast and at Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.

The remote, almost semi-wilderness character of the marshes has been drawn upon by many notable writers, including Russell Thorndike, H.G. Wells, Henry James, Joseph Conrad and Rudyard Kipling, all of whom either worked in the Romney Marshes or used the area as a setting for their novels. Paul Nash is particularly well known for his paintings of the coast at Dymchurch, and similarly John Piper for his work at Dungeness.

The landscape through time

The Romney Marshes NCA is underlain by Cretaceous deposits of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone. This bedrock was laid down around 140 million years ago in a local environment dominated by swamps, estuaries and deltas deposited on the edge of a shallow, sub-tropical sea. This NCA owes its present day appearance to the natural process of sediment deposition behind large shingle promontories and to the reclamation of the area – in stages – for agricultural use. The strong sea level rise at the end of the last glaciation drowned the lower reaches of rivers extending into the present English Channel area and created tidally influenced estuaries that drained into shallow marine bays. The area of the Romney Marshes was one such bay, where rivers drained (and still drain) from the High Weald NCA. As the sea level stabilised about 5,000 years ago, a series of shingle and sand spits and islands grew slowly out into this bay from the west, progressively enclosing the area. A westward-progressing ‘silting up’ of partially enclosed brackish and marine lagoons ensued, creating areas of salt marsh, forest and peat accumulation marginal to the remaining extensive open water. By 700-800 years ago, the marshes were changing from salt marsh to reed and sedge meadows and large, enclosed lagoons as ‘silting up’ progressed.

To the west of the NCA, in the Isle of Oxney, the superficial geology consists of Quaternary river deposits (alluvium and flood plain deposits), as well as some peat deposits. The peat deposits are also bisected in places by salt marsh creeks. The northernmost extent of this NCA around the Hythe area (the boundary with Wealden Greensand NCA) is also characterised by a strip of mass movement ‘landslip’ deposits. Occasional Palaeolithic and Mesolithic stone tool finds bear testament to the presence of early humans in the landscape – one that would have been very different from todays.

The landscape of the marshes is young in geological and historical terms; between 43 and 100 ad, when the Romans first landed on the Kent and Sussex coast, the extensive area of Romney Marshes had not yet been fully formed by natural processes. The Romans would have been faced with a broad, open and shallow bay, studded by some upraised islands. These higher and drier sites provided suitable locations for the first human settlement of the area. Lydd and New Romney, for example, have provided evidence of early occupation in the form of pottery fragments dating from the 1st century.

By the early 9th century, the gradual fall of the sea level meant that what is now Romney Marshes began to develop. Impoundment was a piecemeal process, with each landowner reclaiming small areas at a time (known as ‘inning’). The irregular pattern of drainage ditches is an indication that no single large-scale reclamation was attempted. The Cinque Ports, which included Romney, Rye and Winchelsea, were important ports in the 12th century, but movement of the Rother mouth from Romney to Rye subsequently caused closure of Romney Port. The ports were used as fishing ports, to transport goods across the Channel and for naval operations.

By the middle of the 13th century, most of the marshland had come into the hands of the local abbeys, which played a key role in much of the medieval reclamation, such as the construction of the Rhee Wall, built in 1258. As in the Roman period, medieval settlement was concentrated on the small areas of higher ground and alongside the roads that cut across the marsh, consisting of isolated farmsteads with a few small villages and hamlets. These retained their dispersed plans – or paddocks in which animals were confined and buildings later developed – into the 19th century.

Flooding in the 13th and 14th centuries resulted in the shrinkage and abandonment of some settlements in the marshes, leaving some abandoned moated sites and churches. A medieval new town was created at Winchelsea in 1281 to replace Old Winchelsea, which had been swept away by the sea – its characteristic regular grid of streets reflecting its planned origins. New Winchelsea did not succeed: the silting of the inlet to the harbour and French attacks in the 14th century contributed to its relative failure.

The geographical location of the area meant that it was an obvious target for unwelcome invasions from abroad. From the 16th century, concern over the threat of invasion resulted in the construction of defensive structures including Camber Castle, a Henrician fort; during the Napoleonic Wars, Martello towers and the Royal Military Canal were built. A defence line utilising the Royal Military Canal plus pill boxes and minefields was constructed in this area during the Second World War. The area also provided ideal locations for the establishment of concrete sound mirrors, precursors to radar, the most spectacular of which survive at Denge.

In the 17th century, the high taxes imposed on the export of wool fuelled a highly lucrative smuggling trade, and the area developed a strong association with smugglers and their haunts. With its remote, desolate beaches, highways and byways it has long been regarded as the birthplace of smuggling in southern England.

The flat, open areas of the marsh provided rich grazing land, particularly for sheep, and it is considered that at one time there were more sheep per hectare on Romney Marshes than anywhere else in England. The marshes supported many sheep-based industries, including wool and other products.

Evidence of the once thriving sheep industry is supported by the remaining looker’s huts, which are features unique to the marshes and provide important links to the area’s cultural heritage. With the slump in wool prices during the 1930s, the economic viability of such intensive sheep farming was reduced. The shift from pastoral to arable which ensued was also driven by more efficient drainage and changing agricultural economics, especially from the 1950s, when widespread conversion to arable occurred.

In the 19th century, the Lydd barracks were established, and ranges have been in existence ever since at both Lydd and Hythe. Around 1900, gravel extraction and water abstraction from the shingle beach aquifer started, and a few decades later holiday bungalow development began along the coast. Industries started to use the area with the construction of Lydd Airport in 1953, followed by the construction of Dungeness Power Station in 1959. These developments, in addition to an increase in the scale and range of recreation and tourism activities, have without doubt resulted in increasing pressures on the NCA over the last two centuries. Despite the growth of industry and some housing, agriculture remains the principal land use, albeit with a shift in balance between pasture and arable. More recent developments include Little Cheyne Court Wind Farm, constructed in 2008, which adds a vertical element in what is otherwise a flat horizontal landscape.

The coastal zone continues to evolve today as it responds to a variety of influences including a reduction in sediment supply, coastal defence works, shingle recycling for beach management, harbour walls at Rye and a sea level rise. These influences have all had an impact on the natural coastal processes and continue to affect how the coast evolves now and into the future.