Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated marsh area in the areas of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers concerning 100 square miles (260 km2). An electoral ward in the very same name exists. This ward had a population of 2,358 at the 2011 census. The Romney Marsh has actually been progressively developed over the centuries. One of the most considerable attribute of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), developing a famous ridge. This feature was extended as a river in three phases from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices managed the circulation of water, which was after that launched to flush silt from the harbour at New Romney. Eventually, the fight was lost; the harbour silted up and New Romney declined in relevance. The Rhee kept part of the old port open until the 15th century. The wall surface at Dymchurch was built around the same time; tornados had breached the roof shingles obstacle, which had actually protected it till that time. It is a common false impression that both these frameworks were built by the Romans. In 1250 and in the following years, a series of storms broke through the seaside shingle financial institutions, swamping substantial locations and returning it to marsh, as well as ruining the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water ruined the port town of Old Winchelsea (now found some 2 mi (3 km) out in Rye bay), which had actually been under threat from the sea considering that at the very least 1236. Winchelsea, the third largest port in England and also a major importer of wine, was relocated on higher land, with a harbour containing 82 docks. Those exact same tornados, nevertheless, assisted to accumulate a lot more shingle: such coastlines currently left virtually the entire seaward side of the marshland. By the 14th century, much of the Walland as well as Denge Marshes had actually been redeemed by "innings", the procedure of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh and also utilizing the low-tide to allow it run dry using one-way drains established into the new seawall, running off right into a network of dykes called locally "sewage systems" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was established to set up drainage as well as sea defences for the marsh, which it continued to construct right into the 16th century. By the 16th century, the course of the Rother had actually been transformed to its network today; a lot of the rest of the location had now been recovered from the sea. The shingle remains to be transferred. Because of this, all the initial Cinque Ports of the Marsh are now much from the sea. Dungeness Point is still being contributed to: although (particularly near Dungeness and Hythe) a daily operation is in area to respond to the improving of the shingle banks, making use of boats to dredge and also move the wandering roof shingles. The Marsh ended up being the home of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, that gave the first tenancy on the land to a man called Baldwin, at some point in between 1152 and 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can enclose and also drain pipes against the sea"; Baldwin's Sewer (drainage ditch) stays in operation. The marsh has actually because ended up being covered by a thick network of drain ditches and also when sustained huge farming areas. These gutters are kept and also handled 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 less developed than several various other areas in Kent and Sussex. The decline in sheep prices implied that also the regional supply (offered around the globe for reproducing for over 2 centuries) ended up being unsustainable. Turfing had constantly been a lesser method because of the meadow kept brief by the lamb raised upon it, yet farms are enhancing in dimension to make up for the decrease in sustainable livestock farming. Some sight this as unsustainable due to the damages to soil ecology of the Marsh. The only other choice, given that 1946, has actually been for farmers to rely on cultivatable farming, changing the landscape from a patchwork of tiny household ranches to a couple of substantial arable production units.