Romney Marsh is a sparsely inhabited wetland area in the counties of Kent and also East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about 100 square miles (260 km2). An electoral ward in the exact 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. The most significant function of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), creating a famous ridge. This feature was extended as a waterway in 3 phases from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices regulated the circulation of water, which was then released to flush silt from the harbour at New Romney. Inevitably, the fight was lost; the harbour silted up as well as New Romney decreased in significance. The Rhee maintained part of the old port open till the 15th century. The wall surface at Dymchurch was developed around the exact same time; tornados had actually breached the tile barrier, which had shielded it till that time. It is a typical misunderstanding that both these frameworks were constructed by the Romans. In 1250 as well as in the following years, a collection of storms appeared the seaside roof shingles banks, flooding considerable areas and also returning it to marsh, as well as ruining the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water destroyed the port town of Old Winchelsea (now located some 2 mi (3 km) out in Rye bay), which had been under threat from the sea considering that a minimum of 1236. Winchelsea, the third biggest port in England as well as a significant importer of white wine, was relocated on greater land, with a harbour including 82 wharfs. Those very same tornados, however, helped to accumulate a lot more shingle: such coastlines currently ran along almost the whole seaward side of the marshland. By the 14th century, a lot of the Walland and also Denge Marshes had been reclaimed by "innings", the procedure of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh as well as utilizing the low-tide to let it run dry by means of one-way drains pipes set right into the brand-new seawall, escaping right into a network of dykes called in your area "drains" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was developed to mount drainage as well as sea supports for the marsh, which it remained to construct right into the 16th century. By the 16th century, the course of the Rother had actually been changed to its network today; a lot of the remainder of the location had now been reclaimed from the sea. The tile 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 included in: although (particularly near Dungeness and Hythe) an everyday procedure remains in location to respond to the improving of the shingle financial institutions, making use of boats to dig up and also relocate the drifting tile. The Marsh became the property of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, that gave the initial tenancy on the land to a male called Baldwin, at some point in between 1152 as well as 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can confine and also drain against the sea"; Baldwin's Sewage system (water drainage ditch) stays in operation. The marsh has actually given that ended up being covered by a thick network of drain ditches and as soon as supported big farming areas. These watercourses are kept as well as handled for lasting 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 several various other areas in Kent as well as Sussex. The decrease in sheep prices implied that also the local stock (sold worldwide for breeding for over 2 centuries) came to be unsustainable. Turfing had always been a minimal technique due to the grassland maintained short by the lamb raised upon it, however ranches are boosting in size to compensate for the decline in lasting livestock farming. Some sight this as unsustainable due to the damages to soil ecology of the Marsh. The only other choice, since 1946, has actually been for farmers to resort to cultivable farming, transforming the landscape from a patchwork of small family members ranches to a few considerable cultivable production systems.