1862.] KENTISH BOTANY. 177 



annually raised by scot and lot. The outer side is defended b^^^ 

 a raddle-work of faggots, fastened to rows of strong piles. "Jf^^ii" 



Were the sea to break through this barrier, the ancient channel 

 by Lymne might be restored, and the name Shipway be some- 

 thing more than a memorial of the past: ^^^'q^ sbw Qiob(r 



This sea-wall, which Sir William Dug'dale,'no ordiriary au- 

 thority, believes was built by the Romans^ is between Hythe and 

 New Romney, and is the only barrier on this, the east side of the 

 Marsh. The coast from the end of the wall by New Romney, 

 Lydd, and Dungeness, is of sufficient elevation to defend the in- 

 terior from marine encroachments. The beach forms not a ridge, 

 but a sort of table-land, all around from near Dymchurcli by 

 Dungeness to near the mouth of the Rother, or for several miles 

 beyond the Dungeness towards Rye. '^^^^ ^"^ 



The entire surface of this alluvial track is intersected by ditches 

 or drives and roads ; hedges and trees are as rare in the marsh as 

 they are in the Isle of Thaneti"^'^^ >'**^*^' *'^^^' ^^^ «^^^' 



There is no elevation except that at ljydcf,''vfMeli',''a'S above said, 

 is situated on a mound of sand rising above the general level of 

 the Marsh, perhaps twenty or thirty feet. Old Romney, said to 

 be on a hill, is probably not more than two or three yards higher 

 than the level of the sea at spring-tides. ">:-.i Jiio 



The dip of the laud is not towards the sea, h'nt to the interior, 

 and the water of the Marsh is provided with a deep channel 

 through the beach, where it flows into the sea at low water or 

 ebb-tides, and the sea is prevented from'flowiiigiiitoHhe' Marsh 

 by flood-gates. " ' '".'.i m; vn 



When Dugdale's map of this Marsh was made, N^W Romney 

 was close upon the sea-shore, though its harbour had been de- 

 stroyed by a terrific storm, which filled it up in the time of JMvt^ard 

 III. At that period Lydd was about as remote from the sea as 

 it is still. The sea has now retired about two miles from New^^ 

 Romney and ten from Applcdore in this direction. '^ 



About Brookland, near the Woolpack Inn, therg^s^lreraark- 

 able depression mostly flooded, except in dry seasons ; and On the 

 margins of this depression, as before observed, there are proofs of 

 its former marine condition still existing in the marine plants 

 M'hich it continues to produce. Its vegetation is entirely of fchis' 

 character. ! • < :,■;!'/('-; '■ ■'■; ::■>■ 



The soil of Romney Marsh is, like its surface, not much diver- 



N. S. VOL. VI. ^ A 



