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==History== [[File:The Guildhall, 13 High Street - geograph.org.uk - 2048230.jpg|thumb|[[Lydd Guildhall]]]] [[File:High Street, Lydd - geograph.org.uk - 215215.jpg|thumb|High Street, Lydd]] The place-name 'Lydd' is first attested in an [[Anglo-Saxon charter]] of 774, where it appears as ''ad Hlidum''. This is the dative plural of the [[Old English]] ''hlid'' meaning 'slope'.<ref>[[Eilert Ekwall]], ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names'', p.308.</ref> Lydd developed as a settlement on a shingle island during the [[Roman Britain|Romano-British period]], when the coast at the time cut off Lydd from the mainland.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9z_NHMjJ9hoC&pg=PA18|title=LANDSCAPE & COMMUNITY IN ENGLAND|author=Alan Everitt|page=18|publisher=Continuum International Publishing Group|year=1985|isbn=9780826420411|access-date=14 February 2013|archive-date=23 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123180649/https://books.google.com/books?id=9z_NHMjJ9hoC&pg=PA18|url-status=live}}</ref> The settlement continued into the Saxon period, when the Saxon church used Roman materials as part of its early construction.<ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=UIURCQmNIpMC&pg=PA389 |title=The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century|author=John Hines |page=389|publisher=Boydell Press|date= 1 September 2003 |isbn=9781843830344|access-date=14 February 2013}}</ref> The town reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a ''corporate member'' of the [[Cinque Ports]], a "limb" of [[New Romney|Romney]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/cinqueports/limbs.htm |title=The Cinque Ports Limbs |access-date=17 August 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529234047/http://www.open-sandwich.co.uk/cinqueports/limbs.htm |archive-date=29 May 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Together with sites in the marsh, the town was a base for [[smuggling]] in the 18th and 19th centuries. [[Lydd Guildhall]], which originally accommodated some prison cells, dates to 1792.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.prisonhistory.org/prison/lydd-gaol/|title=Lydd Gaol|publisher=Prison History|access-date=9 September 2023}}</ref> Before and during the [[First World War]], Lydd Camp was important for artillery training and practice. Experiments with high explosives carried out on the shingle wastes around 1888 led to the invention of the explosive [[Picric acid|Lyddite]]. Lydd was at one time a garrison town. At one time it had an extensive narrow gauge railway network, and the area is still an important training ground for the armed forces. Nearby [[RAF Denge]] was established between the world wars. It has surviving concrete [[acoustic mirrors]], developed during World War II to detect aircraft before radar was perfected. In the 20th century the hamlets of Lade<ref name=OS188>{{cite map|title=Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 188 ''Maidstone & Royal Tunbridge Wells (Sevenoaks & Tonbridge)''|ISBN= 9780319228814 |publisher=Ordnance Survey|date=2014}}</ref> and Lydd-on-Sea developed along the coast east of Lydd. They mostly consist of holiday bungalows. ===Second World War=== [[File:Aerial view of Lydd, Kent.JPG|thumb|Aerial view of Lydd with the airfield in the centre of the photograph]] [[File:The Battle of Britain HU88413.jpg|thumb|left|[[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Messerschmitt Bf 109E]], probably Bf 109E-1 (W.Nr. 3576) ''Red 13'' of 7./[[Jagdgeschwader 54|JG 54]], flown by Uffz. Zimmermann, which crashed near Lydd on 27 October 1940]] In September 1940, four young Dutch men landed on the coast between Hythe and Dungeness in a rowing boat. One was arrested for spying shortly after drinking at the Rising Sun pub.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBhrEFWA0MgC&pg=PA62|title=Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII That Saved D-Day|author=Joshua Levine|pages=62β63|publisher=HarperCollins UK|date=4 April 2011|isbn=9780007413249|access-date=14 February 2013|archive-date=23 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123180643/https://books.google.com/books?id=dBhrEFWA0MgC&pg=PA62|url-status=live}}</ref> On 21 October, a [[Dornier Do 17]] ran short of fuel and was forced to land at [[RAF Lydd]]. The German pilot had been confused in his bearings whilst attempting to return to France. He had been using the recently invented [[Battle of the Beams|equipment devised to interrupt the homing beams]] sent from Germany to guide such planes. The Dornier was the first example of this new type of bomber to fall into the hands of [[British Intelligence]]. [[RAF Lydd]] was situated north of the town. Only one [[Nissen hut]] now remains of the complex. A [[Vickers Wellington]] bomber had the misfortune to crash-land on 26 June on returning from a 1,500-plane attack on [[Bremen (city)|Bremen]]. The 19-year-old pilot got the plane down safely near Lydd, and the crew survived the crash. They were not certain they had landed in England until rescuers came to their assistance. On 27 November 1942, a train came under attack by two [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]]s. The train, hauled by [[Southern Railway (Great Britain)|Southern Railway]] [[LB&SCR D3 class|D3]] number 2365, was just departing from [[Lydd Town railway station]]. The engine's boiler was hit. The resulting jet of high pressure steam from the engine hit the plane, causing it to crash-land nearby. The German pilot was found dead, but no British railway staff or passengers were injured. The two planes had been heading over the coast after a raid on [[Ashford, Kent|Ashford]] and attacking a minesweeper off Dover.<ref>{{cite web|title=HOLDING THE WEST|url=http://www.asisbiz.com/Battles/Holding-the-West.html|publisher=asisbiz.com|access-date=3 April 2018|archive-date=9 June 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150609015946/http://www.asisbiz.com/Battles/Holding-the-West.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
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