Romney Marsh is a sparsely inhabited marsh area in the areas of Kent as well as East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 square miles (260 km2). An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward had a population of 2,358 at the 2011 census. The Romney Marsh has actually been gradually developed over the centuries. One of the most substantial function of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), developing a prominent ridge. This attribute was prolonged as a river in 3 stages from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices regulated the circulation of water, which was after that released to purge silt from the harbour at New Romney. Ultimately, the battle was lost; the harbour silted up and also New Romney decreased in value. The Rhee maintained part of the old port open till the 15th century. The wall surface at Dymchurch was developed around the same time; storms had actually breached the roof shingles barrier, which had protected it till that time. It is a common misunderstanding that both these frameworks were constructed by the Romans. In 1250 and also in the complying with years, a series of violent storms broke through the coastal roof shingles financial institutions, swamping considerable locations as well as returning it to marsh, as well as ruining the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water damaged the port community of Old Winchelsea (currently found some 2 mi (3 kilometres) out in Rye bay), which had been under threat from the sea because at least 1236. Winchelsea, the 3rd biggest port in England and a significant importer of a glass of wine, was transferred on higher land, with a harbour consisting of 82 jetties. Those exact same tornados, nonetheless, aided to develop more roof shingles: such coastlines currently left virtually the entire seaward side of the marshland. By the 14th century, a lot of the Walland and Denge Marshes had actually been recovered by "innings", the procedure of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh and utilizing the low-tide to let it run dry using one-way drains pipes established into the new seawall, escaping into a network of dykes called locally "sewage systems" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was developed to mount drain as well as sea protections for the marsh, which it remained to build into the 16th century. By the 16th century, the course of the Rother had been changed to its network today; the majority of the rest of the area had actually currently been redeemed from the sea. The shingle remains to be deposited. As a result, all the original Cinque Ports of the Marsh are now far from the sea. Dungeness Point is still being contributed to: although (especially near Dungeness as well as Hythe) an everyday procedure remains in place to respond to the improving of the shingle financial institutions, using boats to dredge as well as relocate the drifting tile. The Marsh became the home of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, who granted the first tenancy on the land to a man called Baldwin, sometime between 1152 as well as 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can enclose as well as drain pipes versus the sea"; Baldwin's Sewer (drain ditch) remains in use. The marsh has given that come to be covered by a thick network of water drainage ditches and once supported huge farming communities. These watercourses are preserved and taken care of for sustainable water levels by the Romney Marsh Area Internal Drainage Board. Romney Marsh adjoins the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is much less established than numerous other locations in Kent and also Sussex. The decline in lamb rates implied that also the local supply (sold worldwide for reproducing for over two centuries) ended up being unsustainable. Turfing had actually constantly been a lower practice because of the meadow maintained brief by the lamb reared upon it, however ranches are increasing in size to make up for the decline in lasting livestock farming. Some sight this as unsustainable because of the damages to soil ecology of the Marsh. The only other alternative, because 1946, has been for farmers to rely on cultivable farming, changing the landscape from a jumble of little family farms to a couple of substantial cultivable manufacturing units.