1862.] KENTISH 150TANY. 179 



Of resident gentry there arc none here but the clergy, for wlio 

 would reside here but those who must? Churches are few, and 

 consequently far between, in Romney Marsh : but few though 

 they be, they are far in excess of tlie wants of the population, 

 which is not increasing. 



At Old Roraney there is a church about a furlong or two from 

 the road, where the few houses in the parish stand ; only a very 

 few — a couple of farms without any cottages. Cottages are about 

 as scarce here as white crows. There is no way, not even a bridle- 

 road, to the church from the highway, but through a field, and 

 this is so seldom trodden that the path is not discernible. Those 

 who worship here on the Lord^s Day are so few, that their feet 

 make no permanent impression on the grass over which they walk 

 one day in seven. Even the track in the churchyard between 

 the stile and the church-porch is invisible : the worshippers are 

 so few, or they tread so lightly, that the grass in the other parts 

 of the sacred enclosure is no greener than by the very portal of 

 the sanctuary. By appearances, it might be said that nobody goes 

 to church. But this would be a very uncharitable and untrue 

 assertion ; for the few parishoners, say a dozen, or at the utmost a 

 score, might pass from the road across the field and through the 

 churchyard once or even twice every Lord's day, and all traces of 

 their steps might be obliterated on the luxuriant herbage before 

 the next Sunday. 



We visited all the four towns or places where the majority of 

 the population resides, viz., Appledore, Dymchurch, New Rom- 

 ney, and Lydd ; and they all, especially the two last-mentioned, 

 have a more desolate aspect than Sandwich, once the excel- 

 lency and now the opprobrium of the Cinque Ports. This latter 

 town, with its little harbour, its inns and railway-station, and 

 its situation on the leading thoroughfare between the populous 

 towns and villages of the Isle of Thanet, and Deal, and Dover, 

 has now and always must have had some traffic ; and although 

 some of its streets afford a good bite for cattle and sheep, 

 one of them at least is a principal road or thoroughfare between 

 populous and fashionable places. New Romney and Lydd do 

 not participate in any one of these advantages. They have no 

 harbour within from four to seven miles ; they are not on the 

 nearest road even from Hythe to Rye. Strangers are rarities 

 in their streets. Some of the people of New Romney never 



