Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the areas 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 been progressively accumulated over the centuries. The most substantial function of the Marsh is the Rhee Wall (Rhee is a word for river), creating a prominent ridge. This function 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 then released to flush silt from the harbour at New Romney. Eventually, the battle was shed; the harbour silted up and New Romney decreased in significance. The Rhee maintained part of the old port open up until the 15th century. The wall at Dymchurch was constructed around the exact same time; tornados had actually breached the roof shingles obstacle, which had safeguarded it until that time. It is a typical mistaken belief that both these frameworks were developed by the Romans. In 1250 as well as in the adhering to years, a collection of storms broke through the seaside tile financial institutions, swamping considerable locations and returning it to marsh, and also ruining the harbour at New Romney. In 1287 water destroyed the port town of Old Winchelsea (currently found some 2 mi (3 kilometres) out in Rye bay), which had actually been under threat from the sea because a minimum of 1236. Winchelsea, the third largest port in England as well as a significant importer of a glass of wine, was moved on higher land, with a harbour including 82 docks. Those same tornados, however, helped to build up more shingle: such coastlines now ran along practically the whole 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 process of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh and also using the low-tide to let it run dry by means of one-way drains pipes set into the brand-new seawall, running right into a network of dykes called in your area "drains" in 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was developed to set up drain and also sea defences for the marsh, which it remained to construct into the 16th century. By the 16th century, the course of the Rother had been changed to its network today; a lot of the remainder of the area had now been recovered from the sea. The roof shingles remains to be deposited. Therefore, 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) a daily procedure remains in place to respond to the improving of the shingle financial institutions, making use of watercrafts to dredge and also relocate the drifting shingle. The Marsh ended up being the building of the Priory of Canterbury in the 9th century, that gave the first occupancy on the land to a man called Baldwin, at some time in between 1152 and 1167, for "as much land as Baldwin himself can enclose and drain pipes against the sea"; Baldwin's Sewage system (water drainage ditch) continues to be being used. The marsh has given that become covered by a dense network of drain ditches and also once supported huge farming communities. These gutters are preserved as well as handled for sustainable water levels by the Romney Marsh Area Internal Drainage Board. Romney Marsh is adjacent to the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, which is less established than several various other areas in Kent and also Sussex. The decline in sheep costs implied that also the regional stock (sold worldwide for reproducing for over 2 centuries) became unsustainable. Turfing had actually always been a lower technique as a result of the grassland maintained brief by the lamb reared upon it, yet ranches are boosting in dimension to make up for the decrease in sustainable livestock farming. Some view this as unsustainable because of the damages to dirt ecology of the Marsh. The only other alternative, considering that 1946, has been for farmers to turn to arable farming, altering the landscape from a jumble of small household farms to a few comprehensive cultivatable manufacturing devices.