The Evolution of Romney Marsh

( 246 ) THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. BY C. J. GILBEBT, E.G.S. INTRODUCTION THE evolutionary processes hereafter described apply not only to Romney Marsh but to aU simUarly reclaimed bays around the coast, and they are deeply interwoven with the archaeology of the county. By them were created the commodious harbours associated with the Roman occupation and subsequently with the proud history of our Cinque Ports, which also by them have been rendered derehct. It is to them we owe the advent of the Teutonic Marshmen, who for all time have stamped their image upon the Men of Kent. To Romney Marsh we owe the ancient laws which govern the reclamation and drainage of aU the Marsh lands of the country. And above aU it is to these processes, so wonderfuUy adapted at every stage to their great purpose, that we owe the addition of many thousands of acres of land to the map of England. And the entire sequence of events has been developed since the advent of Neohthic man into the district. An attempt is here made to deal with this subject as affected by recent earth movements, the fuU evidence of which has lately become avaUable.1 THE OBIGIN OE THE BAY.—The story of Romney Marsh is a geological paradox. At first .sight it almost looks hke a geological impossibility. Here of old was a land-locked bay. The earth crust of Western Europe, which for a long period had been in a condition of instability, was now slowly sinking. For thousands of years it continued to sink untU around our coastal areas the sea had risen above the old 70 ft. contour hne, and many hundreds of square mUes of land had been wiped off the map. 1 Gilbert, Report, Int. Geog. Union, 1928, pp. 112-3 ; 1930, pp. 93-101 ; Quarterly Jour. Geol. Soe, Vol. 86, pp. 94-5. THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. 247 And what then of the Bay ? NaturaUy, one might imagme, it must be some 70 feet deeper. On the contrary, it had actuaUy become dry land. To put it in another way, when the earth crust was 70 ft. higher than to-day the Marsh area was under the sea, and then after the earth crust had sunk some 70 ft. the sea in the bay had disappeared. It is with the mysteries of this paradox that we have to deal. Romney Marsh is a product of the final stage in the creation of the English Channel. Across the Straits of Dover an extension of the great Wealden dome formed the latest bridge by which the successive races of Early Man found their way into England or were driven southwards by the asperities of a glacial climate (G, Fig. 1). During a depression of the earth crust this bridge was finaUy breached, and along the line of a submerged vaUey (F) which had traversed the dome and which had been carved by the Rother, the Brede and the TUlingham, with rivers from Northern France, the sea swept to and fro between the Enghsh Channel and the North Sea, and for the first time in the world's history, Great Britain became an island entity. The lateral erosion of the vaUey by the waves continued until the Channel had been extended with exceptional regularity to a depth of about 70 ft. and a width of about five nines (Gorge, Fig. 1). It is still a practically unaltered feature in the bed of the Straits of Dover, running from a line between Beachy Head and Etaples weU up into the North Sea. A further pronounced depression seems to have initiated the final stage, during which the Wealden ridge on each side of the Gorge was graduaUy eaten back, yard by yard, and mUe by mUe, untU at long last the Straits had widened to something like their present dimensions, our bay had come into being and the waves were washing against the foothiUs. THE FOUNDATIONS OE THE MABSH.—Let us now try to visuaUze the scene at this stage of our history. First, then, we have in imagination to put back the clock some 10,000 years, to raise the earth crust bodUy some 70 ft., and to remove the blanket of marine deposits which overhes the FIG. 1. SECTION ACBOSS ENGLISH CHANNEL PBOM HYTHE TO CAPE GBIZNEZ. F Valley across Isthmus. G Ideal section of land prior to breach of Isthmus. H Sea level. I Gorge. A Submerged Cliff at 10 fathoms. B Submerged Cliff at 18 fathoms. C Varne Elevation. D Hythe shore. E Cape Griznez shore. b3 00 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 249 ancient floor of the bay. We have then exposed to view a high steep bare cliff, the back lands not as yet rounded off by denudation. This chff swings round in an irregular semi-circle from a headland off Hythe and Folkestone,1 and thence along the boundary hUls of the Marsh to the western headland of Fairhght, stretching for several mUes out into the sea. The more resistant rocks of the coastline from Oxney to the island of Rye stand out in bold rehef and dominate the central landscape. The contour of the bay is further broken by narrow V-shaped subsidiary bays into which the divided channels of the Rother deposit the ruins of the Wealden dome, and by simUar bays opening out along the vaUeys of the Brede and TUhngham further westward. At high water an uninterrupted ocean view opens out as far as the eye can reach, and, as the tide recedes, we notice that herringbone systems of drainage have carved themselves out in the bed of the bay which bring in the flood tide, and carry off the ebbing waters, whUe the rivers trace their way across the eroded floor of the Wealden beds. Ever and anon from the cliffs mighty landshdes come hurtling down on to the shore, to be sucked into the sea by the undertow of the waves, and yielding up perchance a selection of fossU bones from the giant reptUes of the Wealden period.2 Looking landward, the vast primeval forest of Anderida spreads in every direction over hUl and dale, in the dark shade of which the Royal oak, destined to become the sacred tree of Druidical worship, reigns supreme. It is an impressive Neohthic spectacle. THE DEGRESSION.—We now approach the initial stage in the solution of our paradox. It was toward the close of the final period of Paleolithic man in England. A re-adjustment 1 We know that after the widening of the English Channel a headland of the Green Sand and Wealden beds still existed off Hythe and Folkestone because its now denuded foundations are visible at exceptionally low tides. 2 Valuable collections of these fossils are on view in the British Museum and the Museum of the Geological Survey, and restorations of some of the animals themselves decorate the grounds of the Crystal Palace. 250 THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. of the earth crust was bringing about a widespread depression covering not only the area of the bay but a great part of Britain, Flanders, and Northern and Western France as well. Its movement was almost inconceivably slow—so slow in fact that deposits of shingle and sand from the up-channel drift, spreading in sheets across the bed of the bay, were able to keep pace with the depression. This process seems to have continued with httle or no intermission over a period of several thousands of years, until the depression had been sufficient to permit of the deposit of some 70 ft. of detritus over the bed of the bay, when it came to a definite halt. Borings at Ruckinge in search of coal, and at Holme Stone for water, have revealed the foUowing detaUs of these recent marine beds. A further boring of 70 ft. at Appledore by Mr. James EUiott still finished in marine sand. RUCKINGE near the foothiUs Turf and mould Clay with sheUs Loamy sand Fine grey clayey sand Sand and mud with bands of peat .. Soft hght blue clay, grey sand and sandy clay Grey sand with a few sheUs Soft hght blue clay with bands of peat Brown sand with pebbles .. J ft. 4 ft. l i f t . 3 ft. 2 ft. 51ft. 30 ft. 9 ft. 9 ft. 64* ft. HOLME STONE Shingle Boulders Brown sand Clay Black and grey sand Pebbles 15 4 13 4 20 1 57 ft. ft. ft. ft. ft. ft. ft. Wealden beds below 64£ ft. Continuation doubtful. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 251 As the result of this prolonged depression, vital changes had taken place in the topography of the bay. The headland off Hythe and FoUsestone, exposed aUke to the up-channel and down-channel storms, had been progressively cut back, until in the final stages of the depression it had practicaUy disappeared. By a simUar process several mUes of FairUght headland had been eaten away. The cliffs at the base of the bay had also been cut back, and lowered and rounded off by subaerial denudation, whUe the scour of the encroaching sea, successively attacking the river vaUeys at a higher horizon, had broadened them out into pretentious bays. In short we had suffered the fate of every other part of the midland and southern British coastline, and the old land up to at least the 70 ft. contour was now beneath the sea, but with this profound distinction, that whUe, as a rule, the lost territories had been permanently wiped off the map, the waves in the bay (and in many other bays simUarly situated) had been laying the foundation for a great restitution. EABLY MAN.—The era of this depression wiU ever be memorable in our history in that it witnessed the advent of Neohthic man. For long ages, in a condition Uttle removed from that of the animals around them, successive races of primeval man had roamed the countryside, dependent from day to day upon the precarious moods of fortune. And then, at long last, with the advent of the Neohthic race, came the first ghmmerings in the dawn of agricultural development. They had come to realize that the seeds and herbs and the fruits of the field were amenable to culture, and that certain untamed animals, the slaughtering of which had hitherto ministered to their needs, might be brought under domestication. And now, for the first time, straggling groups of this later race with domesticated sheep and cattle found their way into England. I t was an epoch of supreme and lasting importance, for these animals of the wUd, by the process of evolution, were destined to become progenitors of the manifold British breeds of the present day, from the blood of which (with the 2 5 2 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. exception of the Merino sheep) most of the high class flocks and herds throughout the world were to be derived.1 And the men of this race from their rude abodes on the higher land around the Marsh once looked down upon our tidal bay, and, maybe, fished in its waters. Their pohshed and pigmy flint implements and other rehcs have been found in great abundance upon the adjacent hiUs of Kent and Sussex. THE FOBEST UPLIET.—The Neohthic depression, being but the culmination of a series of earth movements which at comparatively short intervals had been in operation for hundreds of thousands of years, it is hardly surprising that FEET FIG. 2. GBAPH OF EARTH MOVEMENTS. 1 Neolithic depression. 2 Forest uplift. 3 Forest growth. 4 Forest depression. 5 Peat bed. 5 and 6 Deposit of alluvium, marsh beaches and Hythe promontory. 7 Post Forest uplift—initiation of Dungeness. 8 Post Forest depression and destruction of Old Winchelsea. 9 Last stages of Dungeness. this latest depression, rather than coming to an abrupt close, should die out in a diminuendo of minor osculations. It is with the first and most important of these osculations that we have now to deal (Fig. 2). 1 As a typical example of the success of other breeds in other markets of the world, the Romney Marsh sheep has always held the dominating position in New Zealand, in the extensive pastures of Patagonia, the Falkland Islands and elsewhere. And our export trade in rams, to maintain the standard type, is a permanent and lucrative feature in the sheep farming industry. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 253 Scattered over the Marsh in every direction numberless " moor logs " lay entombed beneath the aUuvium. At the Brack, near Woodruffs, in the parish of Fairfield, in a recent extensive drainage operation, rehcs of a submerged forest of large oak trees in a growing position were disclosed. They were resting upon a thin sheet of river sUt which overlay the offshore sands of the early bay. The trees were quite black and as hard as ebony, and so firmly rooted that it was only with the utmost difficulty that they were dislodged. The forest was buried beneath 8 ft. of black leafy mould from its decayed fohage and undergrowth, and this in turn was covered by 18 in. of peat and some 5 ft. of Marsh alluvium (Fig. 3). A splendid exposure of this submerged forest is also to be seen along the shore between Cliff End and the Pett Level. It extends beyond the boundary of the lowest tides and occupies many acres of the foreshore. The wood is largely of oak and hazel, and the abundance of rooted stumps shows that much of it grew upon the spot. An unworn flint of NeoUthic (or later) age has been found in this deposit.1 Cropping out along the southern shore of Dungeness, and also extending beyond low water mark, is a deposit containing branches and roots of trees which has been described as " peaty mud."2 It has been greatly denuded by wave action and its remains are now largely hidden beneath recent accumulations of sand. This deposit clearly belongs to the submerged forest period. Now the trees of these forest and peat beds manUestly could not have spread out over the off shore sands unless and until the bay had been raised above high tide level, and the fact that they now extend beyond the low tide hmit seems to postulate a minimum land uphft of some 25 to 30 ft. During the gradual process of this uphft a mantle of salt-loving vegetation would naturaUy come into being, the decay of which, supplemented by a deposit of river sUt, would create a congenial soU for the subsequent spread of the 1 Proc. Geol. Assn., Vol. 32, p. 220. 2 Geol. Survey Map of 1864. SECTIONat WOODRUFFS. SNARGATE. Loam Peai- Forest Mould Clay- Sand- Ordnance Datum. rFaiffifeiaffraefe C STOKES. DEL. tD3Z. • SCALEo/FEET. FIG. 3. SECTION OF THE FAmFjBi,D SUBMERGED FOEEST. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 255 forest, as in the case of the Fairfield section and the " peaty mud " of the West Bay. Hence, too, the wide distribution of the " Moor logs " in the subsoU of the Marsh. APPLEDORE DOWLES.—The forest trees which are found in great numbers in the peat over the Appledore Dowles, have been claimed by Lewin and other writers1 to have drUted from the hUls by the Bother, and it is asserted that " there is something in the Marsh mould uncongenial to the oak," and that except at West Hythe Oaks not a single specimen is to be found in the Marsh. As to the first point, it is inconceivable that in such numbers the trees could have found their way into the river, or that such large specimens could have been transported by such a shaUow stream and have been so widely distributed.2 The uncongeniahty or otherwise of the " Marsh mould " has no bearing upon the question, as the forest bed flourished long before the " Marsh mould " came into existence. But is not the statement a hbel upon the " Marsh mould " ?3 One can hardly leave this branch of our subject without referring to the submerged forests around our coasts which extend far out into deep water, and which might suggest that our uphft had been greatly underestimated. The author ventures to claim that these deep water beds, of Neohthic age, are older than the land osciUation, and that the forests from which they were derived were aheady growing upon the land sloping down towards the coast at the time of their original submergence. They might thus date from the earhest or from any later stage of the depression. The nearer they grew to the shore level, the earher would be their submergence and the further their ultimate extension into deep water. Any deposit of Neohthic marine beds with which they were associated would therefore rest 1 Lewin : Invasion of Britain by Julim Oossar, p. 64. 2 In the making of the R.M. Canal Captain O'Brien found the trees in equal abundance and also of large size more than a mile E. from the Dowles. 8 In an inquisition held in 1379 one Robert de Burton was found to have felled and sold 75 large oaks, worth £20 from land at Brookland (Biddies of Bye, L. A. Vidler, p. 17). 256 THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. upon the submerged forests, and not, as in our case, underhe them. To sum up this important chapter: the uprise had brought about a great transformation ; the erstwhUe bay had become dry land, and one might vainly imagine that our problem had already been solved. But this was not yet Romney Marsh. The mantle of aUuvium which was to create the rich pastures of our low-lying coastal valleys had yet to be deposited ; but the foundations had been weU and truly laid for their ultimate addition to the map of England. THE MAESH ALLUVIUM.—By far the most important result of the uphft was that during the long pause at its close a more or less substantial shore beach had been thrown up at the seaward boundary of the uphfted area. Its position was determined by the slope in the bed of the bay, which steepened as the headlands were approached. This new shore ran paraUel with the Fairhght headland and swung out across the shaUow water in the centre of the bay to seaward of the submerged forest and " peaty mud " and thence off the present shore at Romney and Hythe (see map).1 The last stage of the forest period was succeeded by a depression which proved a supreme factor in the evolution of the Marsh. The sinking of the land brought about a tidal invasion through the river mouths and the weaker sections of the subsiding beach. Thus a lagoon was formed behind the shore hne, which crept landward with the depression, untU finaUy at high tide the entire area of the bay became re-flooded. The process, however, had been so gradual that rich deposits of marine and river sUt had again kept pace with the depression, with the result that practicaUy the whole of Romney Marsh and the higher parts of WaUand Marsh had been clothed with salt-loving plants and the land was ripening for reclamation. I t would appear, however, that after being driven back an appreciable distance a section of the shore beach in the 1 The original beach was subsequently driven in, and the towns of Lydd and Romney and the Romney Warren now represent its reconstructed relics. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 257 West Bay had been broken through or submerged, and the sea thereafter continued to scour the back lands of WaUand Marsh as far as the Appledore Dowles, depositing its sUt only over the land covered by the more quiet water at the outward spread of the flood tide. It was probably during this period that the steep cliffs of Rye and Peasmarsh were carved back. Breaches also occurred in the eastern shoreline, though these proved of an entirely beneficent character. In the process of repairing the Dymchurch Wall, the late James Elliott records that he came upon a succession of shingle bars running under the WaU and out into the Marsh more or less at right angles with the shore.1 The more westerly bars are of no great length and he embedded beneath the upper aUuvium. Off Dymchurch during a hot summer their course can stiU be traced by the colour of the burnt herbage. Further east the bars graduaUy increase in altitude and in length (at first underlaid and intersected by aUuvium) untU we come to the broad belt of shingle which runs close up to the foothills at West Hythe. It seems clear that the original beaches along this eastern section became progressively submerged, and in places swept away. Fortunately, however, ample supphes of shingle were drifting along the coast, and, with the extension of the newer beaches and the deepening of the depression, the lateral bars were thrown out into the salt marshes. The shorter and deeper bars were formed during the earher stage of the depression and subsequently buried beneath the aUuvium, and the longer surface bars manUestly belong to its later stages, when even the back lands had again sunk below high tide level. The net result was that, apart from the shingle zone, the vast aUuvial area of Romney Marsh east of the Rhee WaU had come into being efficiently protected from future wave attack alike in the south and east. THE HYTHE PBOMOKTOBY.—These West Hythe shingle ridges are in close succession and have the same continuity 1 Account of the Dymchurch Wall, p. 6. 23 2 5 8 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. and uniformity of structure as those of Dungeness. They were clearly thrown up by the waves from the open sea in the east. It foUows that the Hythe headland must previously have been eaten away right up to the foothills.1 A reference to the map (Fig. 4) wiU show that they are aU cut off at the shoreline, and, traced seawards, take the form of a cuspate promontory,2 the western flanks of which ran appreciably to seaward of the present Dymchurch WaU. It is important to bear in mind that these shingle formations extended over the entire stage of the Forest depression, before a pebble of Dungeness had been deposited. Its arrested development and the process of its destruction are dealt with in due sequence (see pp. 268-9). THE HYTHE HAVEN.—During the deposit of the shingle ridges which culminated in the Hythe series, the sea from the east which had thrown them up had access to the back lands by means of a broad channel along the foothills. This subsequently became the western branch of the Hythe Haven, the eastern section of which was shut in from the sea by a belt of shingle between Hythe and Folkestone (Fig. 4). A whole Ubrary of controversial literature has gathered around this subject. For example, was the Haven the site of Caesar's landing ? Did a critical battle take place upon the islands ? Did the Haven give access to a Roman fort at Lympne ? Was it the Tortus Lemanis of Ptolemy, or was there no port at aU % Did the river Limen run along the foothiUs and empty into the Haven or elsewhere, or was it blocked at Appledore by the erection of the Rhee WaU ? These and a host of other questions have for centuries been the subject of dispute among archaeologists, and still remain unsettled. We can only leave them in then hands. Reverting for a moment to the aUuvial period, the foUowing points may be of interest. The forest land, being 1 A substantial shore beach can still be traced along the foothills between Hythe and Sandgate. 2 It seems probable that the latest ridges of the promontory (since cut off at the shore) and which were laid down at the very close of the depression, were slightly higher than those which preceded them. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 259 but the uphft of the early sea bed, was naturaUy sloped seawards. At the close of the lagoon stage the slope was largely reversed. This was due to the longer period of submergence of the lower coastal lands during the depression, coupled with the fact that the coarser detritus of shingle and sand was first precipitated, and bulked more largely than the finer material deposited from the stiU waters at the landward spread of the tides. The result was a rapid and relatively deep deposit of coarser material over the coastal areas and a more gradual accumulation of finer and stiffer aUuvium further inland. The back areas, being the last to be submerged, naturaUy received a restricted supply of aUuvium. It was, indeed, found to be entirely absent in the Ruckinge boring. In addition to the marine sUt, the forest itseU contributed not a Uttle to the buUding up of the Marsh. In this connection Mr. W. E. Ellis writes to me that in his building operations " a bit inland, and especiaUy on the higher ground around Brenzett and Brookland " he has found beneath the aUuvium " layers of vegetable matter (containing branches of trees and logs of wood) from a few inches to 10 feet and more in thickness ", obviously derived from a local section of the forest. " They rest upon quicksands which work up like a lot of gruel." The suspended material in the water of the English Channel averages some fifty-two parts of sand, twenty-four parts of calcareous sohds and twenty-four parts of organic matter.1 To these constituents, supplemented by rich organic material from the rivers,2 the wonderful fertility of the Marsh is largely due. The richest pastures are naturaUy those of the fattening lands, in which profile plays an important part. Even in adjoining fields the drainage from the higher to the lower land wiU bring about chemical reactions in the soU which lead to deterioration.3 1 Journal S.E. Agricultural College, Wye, No. 30. 2 This river silt contains from 20 to 30 per cent, of organic matter. 8 Ibid., p. 144. 260 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. The best fattening pastures are those of higher profile, in which the initial fertility is associated with good subsoU drainage. " Their temperature then rises quickly in spring and the rate of nitrate production is high " (p. 161). The richest " fattening fields " in the Marsh are said to be one of 17 acres at Snave Corner, regularly carrying and fattening eleven to twelve sheep per acre, and a field at Burmarsh carrying up to twelve sheep per acre. In several other locahties up to ten sheep per acre are fattened. The wide areas known as " breeding land ", as distinguished from " fattening land ", carry but two to six sheep per acre. In the case of arable land profile deterioration is minimized by cultivation and the general soU analysis is of primary importance. The surface irregularities were produced in a variety of ways. In an instructive paper on the Salt Marshes in course of formation along the Norfolk coast, Mr. J. A. Steers1 describes a shore beach eight miles in length which in recent times has been thrown out obhquely from the old shore line at Weybourne and up to the present has extended to Blakeney Point. It encloses a series of salt marshes about four mUes in width, also intersected by lateral bars of shingle. He shows how these marshes " cut up by an intricate series of minor creeks draining into major ones, become carpeted by a rich mantle of vegetation which captures the silt and blown sand and causes some parts of the floor to be raised higher than the others."2 In the wider area of Romney Marsh, with the Rother also spreading out in distributive channels, these irregular conditions would naturaUy be intensified. Apart from the work of man, the topography of Romney Marsh proper presents much the same surface features as those prevaihng at the close of the Lagoon period, and it seems probable that the natural drainage levels of to-day are 1 Proc. Geol. Assn., Vol. 40, pp. 341-56. 2 Mr. Steers attributes the formation of the beaches which intersect Romney Marsh to similar processes, a conclusion which, apart from the depression, can be readily accepted. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 261 but an inheritance of the arterial channels which formerly brought in and carried off the tidal waters of the lagoon. THE FINAL OSCILLATION.—We have now to record what we would fain hope may prove the final stage of these subsidiary osciUations (7, 8, Fig. 2). It was a relatively feeble effort, but it extended over an immense area and was associated with phenomena of the highest importance. The original movement commenced with the latest era of Paleolithic man ; the forest uphft is dated by the advent of the Neohthic race ; the final pulsation pre-dated the Bronze Age ; and the resulting depression extended over the Roman and Saxon periods. In the Thames VaUey the uphft is evidenced by the renewed growth of large forest trees over the previously submerged area and by its occupation first during the Bronze Age and later as a Roman settlement, after which the land was again depressed below sea level.1 At Dixon's Corner, near Sandwich Bay, Mr. G. C. SoUey has unearthed a considerable quantity of Roman pottery several feet below high tide level.2 In the coastal regions of Flanders and northern and eastern France abundant evidences of man's occupation during the Neohthic, the Bronze and the Roman periods have been revealed at successive horizons in the marine deposits, whUe at St. Omer and Dunkirk houses and factories have been built upon marine deposits which overhe the ancient Roman settlements.2 In the Arun Valley of Sussex a Roman ford across the river is now submerged,2 even at low tide, by 3 ft. of swUtly flowing water, indicating a similar final earth movement. In our district the formation of Dungeness was initiated, the shore defences strengthened and the water-logged marsh consohdated, prior to the depression which preceded the Roman era and the advent of the Teutonic settlers with their " extensive flocks ". 1 SpurreU, Proc. Geol. Assn., Vol. 11, p. 214. 2 Report, Int. Geog. Congress, 1928, p. 112. 262 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. The final stage was associated with tragic happenings. The ancient writers, Twine, Lambarde, Camden, Somner and many others, speak of the ravages of exceptionally furious storms between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries. In 1097 the island now occupied by the Goodwin Sands was utterly destroyed ; in 1250 at old Winchelsea, an island in the West Bay, " besides the hurt that was done in bridges, miUs, breaks and banks, there were 300 houses and some churches drowned " ; in the reign of Edward I1 Camden records that " the sea . . . made pitiful waste of people, of cattle, and houses in every place, as having quite drowned BromhiU, a pretty town weU frequented, and made the Rother forsake his own channel and stopped his mouth [at Romney] to pass into the sea by Rhie." And the same storm swept away the ruins of the island of Winchelsea. At this time there was no protecting shore beach at Littlestone, the lowlands from Belgar to the Warren were one vast estuary, ships anchored along the fringe of the town, and with the sea at its doors, nothing but a few feet in altitude stood between Romney and a simUar catastrophe. As it was, a coating of several feet of shingle and sand was thrown in over the greater part of the town. This enveloped the churchyard and blocked the western entrance of the church of St. Nicholas, access to which had thereafter to be effected by a number of descending steps. The piUars of the nave for about 4 ft. up stiU show a dark discolouration, marking the line of the muddy waters. Not only so, but a new shore beach was thrown up which can be traced dipping towards the fields along the seaward side of the town. Now in the first place it requires a considerable stretch of the imagination to picture a succession of such exceptional storms over a period of more than three centuries, and ravagmg an area north, south and east of the Enghsh Channel, and weU up into the North Sea. And when we find such indisputable evidence of a post-Roman depression over such a vast area we seem forced to the conclusion that these tragic happenings were due to its progressive weakening of 1 Somner, p. 68. THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. 263 shore defences, never too substantial, and that the storms were but a final and contributory agency in the destruction. The earth movement itseU was probably a gradual one initiated much earher than the thirteenth century. THE RECLAMATION OE WALLAND MABSH AND GULDEEOBD LEVEL.—Reverting for a moment to the Forest depression : we have seen that as the result of a breach in the forest shore of the West Bay the aUuvium had not been laid down over the back lands of WaUand Marsh. Aided, however, by the new uphft, accumulations of shingle and sand had progressively contracted the breach and broken the scouring force of the waves. Thenceforward the tidal and river sUt were freely deposited over the erstwhUe submerged area. The Rhee WaU, which cut off the Dowles from the rest of the lowlands, arrested the new deposits, which between Appledore and Snargate are to-day no less than 8 ft. higher than the land to the east. This permitted of the " Inning " and subsequent reclamation of the lands bounding the WaU to the west; and thereafter, by progressive stages, the entire area to its boundary in the West Bay was added to the aUuvial marsh lands, the final shutting out of the sea by the reclamation of Guldeford Level being accomphshed in A.D. 1562. THE PARADOX.—We wiU now venture to sum up the foregoing evidence. In the Evolution of the Marsh we have three definite periods of depression, with two. intervening upheavals, and the phenomena associated with each movement have their indispensable place in the final result. But for the deposit of marine beds during the early depression the Marsh area would have remained a bay, and a deep one at that. Had the depression been other than a gradual one, it would have outpaced the growth of the marine deposits, with a simUar result. The new shore beach created by the forest uphft alone rendered possible the creation of the lagoon and the deposit of the Romney Marsh and Hythe shingle ridges and of the aUuvium during the 264 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. renewed depression, while the aUuvium in its turn not only raised the surface of the marsh but was accountable for its wondrous fertUity. The ensuing uprise consohdated the new deposit and paved the way for its reclamation, strengthened the shore beaches, and probably initiated the formation of Dungeness. The final depression alone had a malign influence. By it we lost our Haven, and with it our ancient glory as a Cinque Port. We lost Old Winchelsea and the " pleasant wateringplace " of BroomhUl, and are now on the way to losing our Pett Level. Yet the credit balance has been a munificent one, and it now rests with man to conserve the blessings which the gods have provided. And so the impossible had happened and our paradox had been solved. WhUe large areas of the coastal lands of England had been irretrievably lost, nearly a hundred square mUes of erstwhile submerged bay had been transformed into dry land. Meanwhile the same beneficent " impossibihty " had repeated itseU in the case of the reclaimed bays of the Cinque Ports and of endless similar bays around the coasts of England and France, and it had all been rendered possible by the oscillations of the Forest and post-Forest periods. THE MYSTERY OE DUNGENESS.—Dungeness is one of the most remarkable shingle promontories in the world. It is of such a distinctive character that British saUors have attached its name to simUar formations in such distant locahties as the Paget Sound and the southern shore of Patagonia. Striking out as it does for several mUes into the sea, athwart the course of the up-channel storms which elsewhere are carving back the Channel coastline, its evolutionary processes and their relationship to those of the Romney Marsh, have been the subject of worldwide controversy, which as yet has reached no satisfactory conclusion.1 1 E. M. Ward: English Coastal Evolution, p. 206. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 265 The Ness has been variously attributed to longshore currents and to tidal eddies (neither of which exists in sufficient force to drift the coarse material); to the meeting of opposing North Sea and Channel tides (the location of which is subject to continuous variation) ; to the shingle being arrested by the estuary of the Rother (which did not deflect a single ridge of the Ness overflow) and so on. WiUiam Topley1 makes the frank admission that " the cause of the original formation of Romney Marsh is entirely unknown." On the other hand in a comprehensive paper2 which has met with very general acceptance,3 Dr. F. P. Gulliver writes :—" I t is almost certain that this valuable agricultural tract [of Romney Marsh] could never have been deposited . . . if it had not been for the outlying barren tract consisting of shingle and gravel caUed Dungeness Point." He then proceeds to suggest the processes by which this was accomphshed. " In an attempt to close the bay " a straight shingle bar passing through the Midrips, was formed between the headlands of Fairhght and Hythe. " Owing to eddies " this hne became deflected into cuspate form, progressively extending seawards, as indicated in Fig. 5. In other words, the beaches 1, 2, 3, 4 approaching each other from the two promontories were the foundations upon which Romney Marsh was built. This theory was avowedly based upon methods found to apply to simUar forelands in other parts of the world. It is here suggested that in no respect is it applicable either to the closing of the bay or to the formation of Dungeness. His numbered ridges, for example, could not have been deposited for many hundreds of years after it was possible for them to have influenced the early development of Romney Marsh. This can readUy be proved. The physical feature which determined the Marsh evolution was not a bar across the centre of the bay but an ordinary shore beach at 1 Mem. Geol. Survey, 1885 : " Geol. of the Weald," p. 304. 2 Geog. Jour., Vol. 9, pp. 536-545. 3 Mem. Geol. Survey of Hastings and Dungeness, 1928, E. H. Chater (Changes in the Coastline near Rye), Inst. Civ. Eng., 1930, etc. 2 6 6 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. the boundary of the uphfted forest area. It did not run out from the two headlands, but foUowed a contour hne paraUel with them, to seaward of the submerged forest and the peaty mud of the West Bay, and of Gullivers beaches (see map). Now the peaty mud underhes the Dungeness beaches from Holmestone for a considerable distance eastward.1 It therefore foUows that none of the shingle over this area ?v 1 So ~S^ / s€®S Hythe \ /"I Appled ore ^ / New Romney S° I lot. Lydd Dungeness 100 4 Scale of Miles Hastings 3 Heights in feet V FIG. 5. By permission of the Royal Geographical Society. could have been deposited untU the peaty mud had been formed, and the early Forest beach had been driven in, during the depression as far West as the Midrips. Over the whole of this period and onwards throughout this depression, the shingle from the west was being drifted up channel, the Coastal and Hythe beaches had been laid 1 In the Geological Survey Map of 1864 their denuded relics were mapped by Drew as far eastward as Abnor Pit, a distance of about three miles. THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 267 down, the major part of the Marsh had come into being,1 and its future developments were foreshadowed. But of Dungeness which was aUeged to have been responsible for the creation of " this valuable tract " there was not a trace. It wiU be seen from the map that every ridge of Dungeness dies out, within its own borders, and U even the initial beaches at Holmestone had existed, there could then and thenceforth have been no leeward escape of shingle to buUd up the stable shore defences and the broad expanse of Hythe beaches which created and protected the Marsh. To buUd up the Ness every pebble became arrested. Such a transformation could only have been effected by one of those profound readjustments of the beaches so characteristic of the West Bay, due possibly to the second or post Forest, uphft. The seaward extension of the Ness seems clearly due to the fact that the shorehne has developed at such an angle to the dominant wind waves as to arrest the shingle at a greater rate than it can be driven round to leeward by the less aggressive waves of the East bay, and the terminal readjustment of the shore hne must have been in somewhat the form of an arresting elbow (see Map). In this way the first promontory was created, and the Holmestone beaches •are its leeward overflow just as the beaches of the East Bay are the overflow of the present point. These fundamental characteristics were perpetuated in aU the later stages of its growth. In the process of extension the nose of the promontory, probably diverted by the up-channel wind waves, graduaUy swung round more and more to the north-east untU at Abnor Pit the complete curve can be traced upon the map (see hnes a, b, c, d). By a further readjustment of the shore line, the later stages of the Ness were, however, completely, robbed of supphes, which were diverted to form the broad expanse of shingle between Camber Castle (buUt in the sixteenth century upon the coasthne) and Rye Harbour. And thenceforth the promontory was only extended from the product of its own 1 See The Marsh Alluvium, pp. 256-257. 268 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. wastage, supplemented probably to some extent by shingle swept across the mouth of the Bay by the storm waves. This alone is accountable for the severe erosion which ever since has been eating away the southern shoreline of the Bay. The addition of the Rye and Winchelsea shmgle would have added greatly to the volume and impressiveness of the promontory. Gathering up the threads of this vexed question, no person studying the evidence of our recent earth movements can doubt that the Forest beach across the mouth of the uphfted bay furnishes the key to the evolutionary processes of the Marsh, or that the shingle of the Marsh and the Hythe beaches was derived from the up-channel drUt. Everything then faUs into line, and Dungeness takes its place in the closing, and not in the opening chapter of our history. We have only to take Gulliver's Dungeness beaches as our starting point to reahze that the Romney Marsh and Hythe shmgle would have been arrested in the West Bay —a more imposing promontory would have resulted, but there would have been no Romney Marsh, and the Rother would now have been flowing into the bay at Appledore. DENCE MABSH.—The eastern section of this rich aUuvial area is definitely the product of the Ness. UntU its reclamation, the sea ever had free access from the north and east, and its richness is entirely due to the marine silt by which an extensive salt marsh was created. The last stage of its reclamation was effected by the erection of an earth bank at its junction with the New Romney Level on the southern side of the Hoy. THE DESTBUCTION OE THE HYTHE PEOMONTOBY.— This promontory was dependent alike for its creation and its subsequent maintenance upon adequate supphes of shingle from the west. As soon as these suppUes were finaUy arrested at Dungeness its destruction by the up-channel THE EVOLUTION OE ROMNEY MARSH. 269 storm waves was but a matter of time.1 It had, however, accomphshed a great purpose. But for its existence, the leeward cliffs of Sandgate and Folkestone and the shore of the Hythe Haven would have been at the mercy of the seU-same storm waves, and it is extremely doubtful whether the aUuvial area of Romney Marsh would have come into being. Its western flanks were fortunately preserved more or less intact, and for many hundreds of years continued to protect the Marsh from invasion. Indeed, it was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the shingle had so far been eaten away as to demand the protection of a metaUed waU.2 But it also proved of equal importance as a creative agency. Let me explain. The drUt of shingle is chiefly governed by the direction for the time being of the wind waves. Our prevailing and most powerful winds are upchannel and therefore on balance the shingle drUts eastward. But a section of coast may become so protected from the dominant winds, and be left so exposed to the down-channel winds, that the balance of drUt force may swing round, and the shingle wfll travel back in the reverse direction. This is exactly what resulted from the growth of Dungeness. The old shorehne from Romney eastward became progressively sheltered, the western flanks of the Hythe promontory became protected from the up-channel storms,3 the wastage from denudation of shingle was correspondingly arrested, and this is why the western flanks escaped destruction with 1 From Cole's map of the seventeenth century and other evidence it would appear that the Hythe shore has been carved back about a quarter of a mile in 250 years. Even at this rate it must originally have extended well over two miles to seaward. 2 James Elliott: Account of Dymchurch Wall, p. 9. 3 So effective did this protection ultimately become that, even during the wildest up-channel storms, the East Bay became a safe anchorage for shipping. Before steam came into general adoption it was no uncommon occurrence during a gale from the West to see literally hundreds of sailing ships safely riding at anchor in the bay. These vessels, but for the protection of Dungeness, would have been driven back into the Downs. Within a few hours of the cessation of the storm they had all resumed their voyage down-channel. To watoh this vast array of shipping simultaneously spreading out its gigantic sails was indeed an impressive spectacle. 270 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. the rest of the promontory. Not only so, but by the erosion of the Hythe promontory, these flanks became fuUy exposed to the down-channel storms, the balance of wave force was graduaUy reversed, and the shingle began to drift back westwards, and this proved the birth of the NEW LITTLESTONE SHORELINE. The reverse drUt, however, did not f oUow the ancient shorehne along the Warren, but struck obliquely out to sea, and continued to extend untU at the Hoy it was over a mUe and a haU seaward of Romney. During this extension the source of its supphes became graduaUy exhausted, and thenceforth it was only extended from the products of its own wastage. In A.D. 1617 the new beach ran some distance off the present coast (see line of Cole's map), and in the memory of the writer the entire shorehne as far south as the LUeboat House (and somewhat beyond it) has been eaten away by the down-channel wind waves to a depth of at least thirty yards, the bulk of it going to the extension of the new shore beach. The final junction with the base of Dungeness at Great Stone Point was effected by the erection of an embankment across the mouth of the bay. This, however, was but an anticipation of the processes of Nature, as the two points were persistently extending from opposite directions and would ultimately have joined forces. THE RECLAIMED LAND.—As in the case of Romney Marsh, an extensive salt marsh was formed behind and in advance of the new shoreline. It was of triangular form and embraced the Littlestone GoU Links and the rich agricultural land between Romney -and the sea. This was reclaimed in successive stages by the erection of a network of earthen waUs. THE SAND DUNES.—The reclaimed area is intersected by a series of sand dunes. I have foUowed every stage in the formation of these dunes. At the extreme point of the beach for the time being, a low incurved ridge of fine shingle THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. 271 and blown sand would spread out into the salt marsh, and upon this ridge rushes would soon commence to grow. Some httle distance eastward an older ridge, with a simUar landward incurve, might be observed, but in this case the nucleus of a dune of blown sand had been accumulated by the rushes. Between the two, aUuvium was being deposited at every tide. StUl farther on the long ridge of a mature sand dune, clothed with turf, had been accumulated in the same way, and similar dunes with intervening deposits of aUuvium had been created at frequent intervals along the entire coast. Some of these dunes are on a smaU scale, while others extend for a considerable distance inland, a difference which was probably due to the variation in the halting periods of extension. It is quite clear, then, that the whole of the new shorehne was created by processes simUar to those of the immediate past, and as a result of the dominating force of the down-channel wind waves. COMPLEXITIES.—In this short stretch of shoreline from Greatstone to Hythe (less than nine miles), we have a range of complexities, which, taken in conjunction with the vagaries of its early development, must surely be unique. Taking it from West to East, the first section is in the stage of accumulation, the second of tentative equihbrium, the third of depletion, and the fourth and fifth have disappeared in opposite directions. The first is the Hoy shore, the second a short section adjoining, the third the entire beach to the junction with the fourth (the flanks of the promontory off the Dymchurch WaU), and the fifth the promontory itseU. Then we have the contradictory behaviour of the shingle. The Hythe promontory was buUt up with shingle from the West. It was distributed partly to the east and partly to the West. At Greatstone the up-channel drift meets the Littlestone drift, from the opposite direction. And the whole of these complexities have been brought about by the growth of Dungeness and the operation of opposing wind waves. 272 THE EVOLUTION OF ROMNEY MARSH. At Greatstone the drUts meet at an angle in the shorehne, where the wind waves which bring along the Dungeness shingle are onshore in the Littlestone section, and therefore have no drift power either way. And the same apphes in reverse order to the waves which drUt the Littlestone shingle to Greatstone. This has nothing to do with the currents, which are the same in each case. It is here suggested that in the controversy on the cause of shingle drUt, neither the wind wave nor the current school of thought is either entirely right or entirely wrong. But both are definitely wrong in the crying sin of generahsation. That shingle is transported and rounded off by current action is beyond controversy ; the river gravels alone are sufficient to prove this. It is aU a matter of drUt force. Around our coasts the drift force of the current is by no means equal to that of the wind waves, and whenever the two under normal conditions are in opposition, as on the east and west shores of the Portland promontory, the shores of the Marsh, and many other locahties, it is the wind waves that prevail. Lack of space precludes any detaUed reference to the extensive Uterature of this subject. This, with many other interesting problems, such as the origin of the Rhee WaU, the Roman and pre-Roman settlement at Sandtun, the various courses of the Rother, the shingle complexities of Dungeness, the cause and effect of earth movements, and so on, must be reserved for a future communication. In conclusion, my warmest thanks are due to Mr. Charles Stokes for his valuable map of the Marsh, past and present, and for having placed his great knowledge of the district so freely at my disposal. •MB MM* M M Sandfim £* urmarsh ±» £L ~ Snave ROMNEY MARSH Ivychurch SmamS ?f\ 1V Warer/na S Hi; JjVenz&l a**'! : s*-%s~ „.'2 '''••'•n"/t':'"k/"n!^s-=-7}ffr''''"' vw Guldeford r.,j^~y V Jkff* HYTHE HAVEN. ROMNEY MARSH 6?S. U-.--'-"—""" J (^of7 J ;' j Sl'5 / /! a. "••-r^ Dungeness C0ctsf//neafrar/'oud dafes sAevrn i/ias: James Cole's Mapftfdftfi. Pokers Survey J/61 J . . / Or/yrnaf Ordnance Surrey circa. //SS ff.tv.H /.W.M. //err Ordnance Surrey Z&yo (of/?omnet/rYoy)x _.._ tfevy Ordnance Surrey (fterised) /9tO , . rfpprOAi/naf-e Soundar/esof/nmnas //eiy/its and Soand/'nys in feef^Liyer/>oo/)/6 so. Pro6a6/e/vrmar extension offyt/ie /romonloru and of/Junge-n&ss seaward Approximate line of B each of fires/ ap//f/-_..._.. former courses offt/rer ffo/her. HasHngs Beds Weald C/ay lower Green&ancf B eaches and Fulls . Blown Sand- . flllurium - . _ . _. ^ %m >:l-jtrim> xv .y,;-' Cfiar/es Stokes, del. 1335. Fi«. 4