64 



rather loth to consider the geological data as conclusive evidence 

 as the documentary. The Rother river once flowed by Apple- 

 dore, and thence to sea at Romney. Along its course at some 

 period a high embankment, supposed by some to have been 

 Roman work, was erected, though by many it has been ascribed to 

 the British. I have before pointed out how the sediment brought 

 down by a river, is checked in its course as it approaches the 

 sea by the influx of the rising tide. We are thus led to look to 

 the highest and not the lowest land, as that through which such 

 ■water ran. In a lake the case is different, here there being no 

 running water — there is no sediment comparatively. 



Let us now study the configuration of Romney Marsh. We 

 have an area surrounded on the west, north, and east by high 

 land ; a considerable river, the Rother, takes its rise in Sussex 

 and flowed into the sea by a circuitous route, by Appledore and 

 thence to Romney, the latter part of its course through a dis- 

 trict which had been reclaimed at some remote period from the 

 sea, when and how I shall not now attempt to describe, but 

 long anterior to the Roman period. If we went back to the 

 events which had preceded that epoch, I should have to con- 

 sider the subject in a much larger and deeper view, not only in 

 this part, but over the whole region embraced by the English 

 Channel. But I will ask you to assume that the whole area 

 forming the Romney Marsh, consisting of deposits of sea sand 

 and shells some fifty feet in thickness, and covering in 

 some places an old forest bed, had long been deposited. At the 

 Roman period great part of this was undoubtedly dry land.* If 

 you read the history of Romney in the last vol. of Kent Archaeo- 

 logical Proceedings, you will find abundant evidence to prove 

 this. At present this low-lying district is protected from the sea 

 from Hythe to Romney by a sea-wall called Dimchurch wall, which 

 is an artificial embankment that had in Roman times no existence. 

 From Lydd to Rye the marsh is now protected by a natural 

 embankment, the Lydd beach, which has accumulated, and still 

 contmues to accumulate, at a very rapid rate, and is some three 

 miles in width opposite Lydd. This beach is formed like that 

 at Deal in the manner I before stated, the falls of the beach 

 being now marked by the successive accumulations at the 

 highest tides, forming parrallel ridges. Such being the case, we 

 should naturally conclude that between Romney and Hythe the 

 district was most exposed to the ravages of the sea. But we are 

 surprised to learn that over that entire area are churches and 

 traces of man's erections, dating back to Saxon and Roman 

 times. Did, then, the sea prey on the coast at that time as it 

 does at present } The Dimchurch wall is a remarkable example 

 of engineering skill, constructed and kept up at great expense to 

 keep out the waves. I had some conversation with Mr. Elliott 

 while at the Romney meeting of the Kent Archaeological Society ; 



* Vol. XII. of Archaeology Cantiana. 



