Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated marsh location in the regions of Kent as well as East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers regarding 100 square miles (260 km2). A selecting ward in the exact same name exists. This ward had a population of 2,358 at the 2011 census. The Romney Marsh has been progressively built up over the centuries. One of the most considerable attribute of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), creating a noticeable ridge. This feature was prolonged as a river in three stages from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices managed the circulation of water, which was then launched to purge silt from the harbour at New Romney. Inevitably, the battle was shed; the harbour silted up and New Romney decreased in relevance. The Rhee kept part of the old port open until the 15th century. The wall at Dymchurch was built around the exact same time; tornados had breached the shingle obstacle, which had shielded it up until that time. It is a common misconception that both these structures were built by the Romans. In 1250 as well as in the complying with years, a collection of violent storms appeared the seaside shingle banks, flooding significant locations and returning it to marsh, and also ruining the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water damaged the port town of Old Winchelsea (currently found some 2 mi (3 km) out in Rye bay), which had been under threat from the sea since a minimum of 1236. Winchelsea, the 3rd biggest port in England and a major importer of white wine, was transferred on greater land, with a harbour consisting of 82 docks. Those same storms, however, aided to build up much more shingle: such coastlines currently ran along almost the whole seaward side of the marshland. By the 14th century, a lot of the Walland as well as Denge Marshes had actually been recovered by "innings", the process of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh as well as making use of the low-tide to let it run dry through one-way drains established into the brand-new seawall, escaping right into a network of dykes called locally "sewage systems" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was developed to set up water drainage as well as sea supports for the marsh, which it continued to construct into the 16th century. By the 16th century, the training course of the Rother had been changed to its channel today; most of the remainder of the area had actually now been redeemed from the sea. The shingle remains to be transferred. Consequently, all the initial Cinque Ports of the Marsh are currently far from the sea. Dungeness Point is still being added to: although (specifically near Dungeness as well as Hythe) a day-to-day operation is in place to respond to the improving of the shingle financial institutions, using watercrafts to dig up and relocate the wandering tile. The Marsh became the home of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, who provided the very first tenancy on the land to a man called Baldwin, at some time between 1152 and 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can enclose as well as drain versus the sea"; Baldwin's Drain (drainage ditch) remains being used. The marsh has considering that ended up being covered by a thick network of drainage ditches as well as as soon as supported huge farming communities. These watercourses are kept as well as managed 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 many various other areas in Kent and also Sussex. The decrease in lamb prices indicated that even the regional supply (offered around the globe for breeding for over two centuries) became unsustainable. Turfing had constantly been a lesser technique because of the meadow kept short by the lamb reared upon it, however farms are boosting in dimension to make up for the decline in lasting livestock farming. Some sight this as unsustainable due to the damages to dirt ecology of the Marsh. The only various other choice, considering that 1946, has been for farmers to count on arable farming, changing the landscape from a jumble of small household farms to a few substantial cultivatable production devices.