Editing Romney Marsh (section)

===Reclamation===
[[File:A map of Romney Marsh (1662).jpg|thumb|A map of Romney Marsh, from ''The History of Imbanking and Drayning'' by [[William Dugdale]] (1662)]]
The Romney Marsh has been gradually built up over the centuries.

====Rhee Wall====
The most significant feature of the Marsh is the [[Rhee Wall]] (Rhee is a word for river), forming a prominent ridge. This feature was extended as a waterway in three stages from Appledore to New Romney in the 13th century. Sluices controlled the flow of water, which was then released to flush silt from the harbour at New Romney. Ultimately, the battle was lost: the harbour silted up and New Romney declined in importance. The Rhee kept part of the old port open until the 15th century.

The wall at [[Dymchurch]] was built around the same time: storms had breached the shingle barrier, which had protected it until that time. It is a common misconception that both these structures were built by the Romans.

====Shingle====
In 1250 and in the following years, a series of violent storms broke through the coastal shingle banks, flooding significant areas and returning it to marsh, and destroying the harbour at [[New Romney]]. In 1287, water destroyed the port town of [[Winchelsea|Old Winchelsea]] (now located some 2&nbsp;mi (3&nbsp;km) out in Rye bay), which had been endangered because of its proximity to the sea since at least 1236. Winchelsea, the third-largest port in England and a major importer of wine, was relocated on higher land, with a harbour consisting of 82 wharfs. Those same storms, however, helped to build up more shingle; such beaches now ran along practically the whole seaward side of the marshland.

By the 14th century, much of the Walland and Denge Marshes had been reclaimed by "innings", the process of throwing up an embankment around the sea-marsh and using the low-tide to let it run dry by means of one-way drains set into the new seawall, running off into a network of dykes called locally "sewers". In 1462, the Romney Marsh Corporation was established to install drainage and sea defences for the marsh, which it continued to build into the 16th century. By that time, the course of the Rother had been changed to its channel today; most of the remainder of the area had now been reclaimed from the sea.

Today, shingle continues to be deposited in the harbour. As a result, all the original Cinque Ports of the Marsh are now far from the sea. Dungeness Point is still being added to (especially near Dungeness and [[Hythe, Kent|Hythe]]), though a daily operation is in place to counter the reshaping of the shingle banks, using boats to dredge and move the drifting shingle.

====Habitation====
[[File:Romney Marsh Orgarswick Lane Looking Towards Hills.jpg|upright=1.5|thumb|View across the marsh from just outside [[Dymchurch]]]] 
Much of the Marsh became the property of the [[Priory]] of [[Canterbury]] in the 9th century, when the lands owned by the double minster of Lyminge were transferred to [[Canterbury Cathedral|Christ Church, Canterbury]].{{sfn |Brooks |1988 |page=95}} Prior Wilbert granted a tenancy on their land in Misleham, now part of Brookland parish, to a man called Baldwin, sometime between 1155 and 1167, for "all their land in Misleham which lies in the Marsh, in so far as Baldwin can inclose it against the sea";{{sfn |Tatton-Brown |1988 |p=106}} ''Baldwin's Sewer'' (drainage ditch) remains in use. The marsh has since become covered by a dense network of drainage ditches that once supported large farming communities. These watercourses have been maintained and managed by [[internal drainage board]]s (IDBs) for sustainable water levels since the 1930s. In April 2001, the five drainage boards responsible for the marsh amalgamated to form the [[Romney Marshes Area IDB]].<ref>[http://www.rmaidb.co.uk/ Romney Marsh Area Internal Drainage Board Website] Accessed 2008-05-26</ref>

====Sustainability====
Romney Marsh is adjacent to the [[High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty]], which is less developed than many other areas in Kent and Sussex. The decline in sheep prices meant that even the local stock (sold around the world for breeding for over two centuries) became unsustainable. [[Sod|Turfing]] had always been a lesser practice due to the grassland kept short by the sheep reared upon it, but farms are increasing in size to compensate for the decline in sustainable [[livestock]] farming. Some view this as unsustainable due to the damage to soil ecology of the Marsh. The only other alternative, since 1946, has been for farmers to turn to arable farming, changing the landscape from a patchwork of small family farms to a few extensive arable production units.