Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the regions of Kent as well as East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers concerning 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 actually been progressively accumulated over the centuries. One of the most considerable function of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), creating a popular ridge. This feature was prolonged as a waterway in 3 phases from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices regulated the flow of water, which was after that released to flush silt from the harbour at New Romney. Ultimately, 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 until the 15th century. The wall surface at Dymchurch was built around the same time; storms had actually breached the tile obstacle, which had protected it up until that time. It is a common misunderstanding that both these frameworks were developed by the Romans. In 1250 and also in the following years, a collection of storms broke through the coastal tile banks, swamping substantial locations and also returning it to marsh, and also damaging the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water ruined the port town of Old Winchelsea (now situated some 2 mi (3 kilometres) out in Rye bay), which had been under threat from the sea given that a minimum of 1236. Winchelsea, the 3rd largest port in England as well as a significant importer of white wine, was relocated on greater land, with a harbour including 82 jetties. Those very same storms, nonetheless, aided to develop a lot more shingle: such beaches currently ran along almost the entire seaward side of the marshland. By the 14th century, much of the Walland as well as Denge Marshes had actually been recovered by "innings", the procedure of vomitting an embankment around the sea-marsh and also making use of the low-tide to allow it run dry using one-way drains established right into the new seawall, running into a network of dykes called locally "sewers" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was developed to set up water 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 changed to its network today; the majority of the remainder of the location had actually now been reclaimed from the sea. The tile remains to be transferred. Because of this, all the original Cinque Ports of the Marsh are currently far from the sea. Dungeness Point is still being added to: although (especially near Dungeness as well as Hythe) an everyday procedure is in area to respond to the reshaping of the tile banks, making use of watercrafts to dredge and relocate the wandering tile. The Marsh came to be the residential property of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, that approved the initial tenancy on the land to a male called Baldwin, at some time between 1152 and also 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can confine as well as drain pipes versus the sea"; Baldwin's Sewer (drain ditch) continues to be being used. The marsh has actually considering that become covered by a dense network of drainage ditches and as soon as sustained big farming communities. These watercourses are kept as well as taken care of 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 less developed than several various other locations in Kent and Sussex. The decrease in sheep costs indicated that also the regional supply (sold around the globe for breeding for over 2 centuries) became unsustainable. Turfing had constantly been a minimal technique as a result of the grassland kept short by the sheep raised upon it, yet ranches are raising in dimension to compensate for the decrease in sustainable livestock farming. Some view this as unsustainable due to the damages to soil ecology of the Marsh. The only various other choice, since 1946, has been for farmers to look to cultivatable farming, transforming the landscape from a patchwork of small household ranches to a few extensive cultivatable manufacturing devices.