History Timeline for Romney Marsh

  End of Ice Age  

• Vast quantities of flint nodules, released from the chalk of southern England, were carried by seasonal flood waters down to what became the bed of the English Channel, ending up as shingle.​  

  4,000 BC et seq  

• Romney Marsh was a sandy bay with the sea covering the whole area 
• Start of the build-up this shingle, caused by longshore drift, as a barrier at Dungeness and northwards as far as Dymchurch.
• This shingle barrier created lagoons behind it to the east, which gradually became mudflats.
• ​The river valleys flowing into the lagoons from the Weald high ground left deposits, creating swamps and vegetation

  2,000 BC et seq  

• Archaelogical finds show that people used Romney Marsh at least as far back as 2,000 BC

  1,000 BC et seq  

• The sea level started to rise faster than the Marsh was building up

  800 BC Iron Age  

• Limited habitation of Romney Marsh

  1st Century
   43  

• Romans invade Britain

   c100

• Romans produce salt from the Marsh at Dymchurch, Lydd and St Mary's Bay 

  3rd Century
   270-280  

• Stutfall Castle built by the Romans

  5th Century
   c450 

• Anglo-Saxons invade Britain 

  8th Century
   741  

• New Romney (as Rumensea) first recorded

   774  

• Dungeness (as Dengeness) first recorded
• Lydd (as Lyd) first recorded

  9th Century
   892  

• Vikings invade Romney Marsh

  11th Century
   1066  

• Norman Invasion

   1086  

• The building of St Nicholas Church in New Romney was begun by Bishop Odo, brother-in-law of William the Conqueror.
• Most of the original Romney Marsh permanently occupied.
• Settlements at Ivychurch and Newchurch.

  12th Century

• Many of the Historic Churches of Romney Marsh were built.

   1155  

• New Romney is one of five Cinque Ports established by Royal Charter.

  13th Century
   early 13th Century  

• Romney Sheep on the Marsh

   1258  

• Rhee Wall completed

   1275  

• Wool becomes subject to export duty, leading to smuggling

   1287  

• Great storms diverts the River Rother from New Romney to Rye

   1288  

• First Dymchurch Wall proper

15th Century     
1462  

• The Romney Marsh Corporation was established to install drainage and sea defences for the Marsh, which it continued to build into the 16th century

  16th Century     
   1564 onwards  

• The health of the Marsh population suffered from malaria, then known as ague or marsh fever, which caused high mortality rates until the 1730s

   1575  

• New Hall in Dymchurch rebuilt

  17th Century
   1614  

• Wool exports made illegal, leading to increase in smuggling

   1615  

• First lighthouse built on Dungeness

  19th Century
   1793-1815 

• Wars with the French

   1805-12   

• Dymchurch Redoubt and Martello Towers built

   1806-9  

• Completion of the Royal Military Canal

   1831  

• Many of the taxes on imported goods were abolished, leading to a decline in smuggling

   1840  

• The Ingoldsby Legends name Romney Marsh The Fifth Quarter The Fifth Continent

   1858  

• John Coleman VC was killed in action at Lucknow, India, in 1858

   1870  

• Over 350 Lookers' Huts on the Marsh

   1872  

• First Romney Sheep exported to Australia

  20th Century
   1906  

• Author Edith Nesbit writes The Railway Children

   1915  

• First Dr Syn novel published by Russell Thorndike

   c1920s  

• Sound Mirrors built at Greatstone

   1927  

• Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway opens

   1939  

• 90% of Romney Marsh grazed by some 200,000 sheep

   1939-45  

• Second World War

   1954

• Lydd Airport opens

   1965

• Dungeness A Power Station started power generation

   1983

• Dungeness B Power Station started power generation

   2006

• Dungeness A Power Station ceased power generation. Expected to enter 'care and maintenance' stage of decommissioning in 2027.

   2021

• Dungeness B Power Station moved into the defuelling phase.