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BBC2
- This Land: Romney
Marsh
places
feature
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for larger map
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"The World,
according to the best geographers, is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa,
America, and Romney Marsh", wrote the Reverend Richard Harris Barham,
writing as Thomas Ingoldsby, in The Ingoldsby Legends, his gothic tales
of superstition and folklore, in the 1840s.
It's not
hard to see why he described the area on the Kent/Sussex border on England's
south coast as being an altogether separate part of the world. Even today,
where caravan sites dot the coast and the nuclear power stations stand
bleakly on the shingle shore of the English Channel at nearby Dungeness,
it is still possible to know exactly what Barham meant.
At its heart,
the 100-square-mile marsh — in a southeast section of England reclaimed
centuries ago from the sea — is almost as mysterious and lonely as
it was in the 17th century, when smugglers swapped local wool for brandy
from France.
A welcome
return for this gentle, beguiling series that celebrates some of the loveliest
parts of the British Isles. Locals describe Romney Marsh, the subject
of BBC2's This Land's programme, as “a gift from the sea”. A
thousand years ago it would have been a vast area of reeds and water.
With its low lying marshland, all once under sea, Romney Marsh is an extraordinary
part of England with an extraordinary history. It has a strange beauty
and the area has always had to defends itself against the elements as
well as against foreign invaders.
Today, it is a flat landscape of rich soil stretching out under an immense
sky, defended from the sea by a bank of shinglea dotted with sheep, skylarks
and soul-soothing towns. it still conjures up the memory of great writers
who called this corner of England home.
Historians, fishermen, farmers, painters and ecologists describe the spirit
of the place and what it means to them. “Wilderness is terribly important
to people,” says one local. “Perhaps it is a sense that there
is somewhere left to go.”
Click here for local views:
Romeny
Marsh is also known as the Fifth Continent, as it is an intriguingly mysterious
place. By driving down the winding lanes you'll discover unique little
villages and secluded seaside towns. At one time Romney Marsh was completely
under the sea, making a natural harbour for ships from early Roman times.
As the River Limen gradually sifted clay down from the Weald, sandy islands
formed, eventually shaping tracts of land.
As a result
of being undersea, the area has is rich with flora and fauna and is a
favourite destination for birdwatchers. The unique Romney Sheep thrive
on the grass which has become a major crop for the area. It was one of
the major British Longwool breeds, the Romney were first exported to Australia
in 1872 where is the the main sheep.
The shellfish found around Dungeness are valued by seafood lovers, and
Dungeness shingle is now a protected item. Most of the marshes are drained
and are cultivated for this yellow oil seed crop. Fortunately there is
still much open grazing land for the sheep and wildlife.
The marsh churches are unusual, not least for the large number in a small
area, leading to the suspicion that one of their primary uses was smuggling.
The marshes and the small villages were dominated by smugglers for many
years - there were pitched battles between smugglers and the revenue officers
in most towns. Some reports speak of 200 smugglers regularly using an
inn when the revenue men had a day off when they knew they were coming!
A church at Old Romney is in the middle of the marsh - 800 years old -
and the yew tree next to it is nearly the same age! Inside there is only
one (modern) stained glass window - but on the floor is the tomb of a
knight from King Richard the Lionheart's Crusades.
Romney Marshes Panoramas
Local villages: Hythe
Local villages: Hamstreet
Facts about Man of Kent/Kentish Man
www.romneymarsh.org
Do you
know more about Romney Marsh?
Let us know by emailing kent@bbc.co.uk
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