Romney Marsh and surrounding towns have a history of significant military association and influence far beyond its borders - unrivalled in importance to England by any other region - and dating back over a thousand years. f

Many invasions of England, including those of vikings, William the Conqueror and the French, have started - and often finished - on the Romney Marshes.

In AD 892, a fleet of over 200 Danish ships sailed up the estuary of the river Rother, destroyed a fort at Stone and Newenden¹ and established a fortress at Appledore. Interestingly, tale of an invading Viking army can be found all around the Romney Marshes, the bones of a viking army burried at Camber, this has never been found but the tale remains. Further details here

Just along the coast, and forward 200 years, a raiding force of two ships from William the Conqueror’s invasion fleet landed near the port of Romney (now New Romney) where they were slaughted by the inhabbitants². William's fleet then sailed further along the coast to Hastings where they successfully landed and launched their invasion. After setting up camp at Hastings, William despatched a force back to the Romney Marshes to take their revenge.

Skip forward another 300 years, and the now peaceful town of Winchelsea was attacked and partly burnt to the ground when French forces invaded in 1326, 1360, and again in 1380.

Although not part of English defenses, the popularity of smuggling amongst Marsh towns lead to and was instrumental in subsequent use of many military activities during the middle ages. More details

Martello Towers - circa 1800

Dotted along the coastline from Folkestone to Seaford in East Sussex are 74 strange, round, buildings. These are the Martello towers, and were built in around 1806 to provide coastal defense for South East England during the Napoleonic Wars.

Each tower is roughly 12 meters high, and had a single 2.5 ton artillery unit on the roof. With their heavy gun able to rotate and fire in all directions and a garrison of 25 men housed within a Canon-fire resistant circular design and thick masonry construction they provided a formidable defense.

The design concept for the towers came from the Genovese defense system, at Mortella Point in Corsica, which proved their strength in 1794, successfully withstanding bombardment by the combined firepower of two British warships. The name Martello is a mis-spelling of the original name, Mortella.

Although the Martello Towers never saw the active service for which it was built, they have provided other historical significance. Notably, the first V1 "flying bomb" to be seen and plotted over England during the second world war was observed from Tower 25 in Dymchurch.

Several Martello towers can be found on the coasts off Romney Marsh - at Rye and Dymchurch.

Built as part of the defenses against Napoleonic invasion in 1804, the Royal Military Canal runs in an arch from Hythe to Rye, spanning 28 miles. The Canal was conceived by the Lt. Col. John Brown, Royal Staff Corps Commandant and in September 1804, the Duke of York and the then prime minister, William Pitt, agreed to the project and it became one of the greatest engineers works of its time. The defeat of Napoleon's fleet at Trafalgar rendered the canal unnecessary and it has now become another landmark of the Marshes, an important wild-life preserve and popular destination for quiet days out.

The Second World War was a particularly busy time for Romney Marsh, with captured spies, mysterious 'sound mirrors' and German fighter planes losing battles with local trains just some of the strange but true events occurring.

• Sound Mirrors: Just outside Lydd, near Dungeness, are several strange domes between 20 and 30 feet high. These were built by the War Department in 1928 - now the Ministry of Defense - just prior to World War II as 'Sound Mirrors' to enable the detection of enemy planes . The sound mirrors did and still do work, but were superseded by Radar. The Guardian newspaper ran a story about the mirrors, pictures of these odd coastal shapes can be found here. They are now scheduled ancient monuments.
  

• Fighter plane loses fight with train: On the 27th November 1942 a slow moving train approaching Lydd railway station fought and won a battle with a German Focke-Wulf 190 fighter plane. The fighter attacked the train, hauled by a locomotive, driven by Charles Gilbert from Ashford. The German Focke-Wulf 190 pilot unleashed a burst of cannon fire at the train and then flew over the train just as the locomotive engine boiler exploded. Debris from the explosion flew into the air and caught the plane flying just 20 feet above the ground. The plane crashed, killing the pilot, while the train and its driver ironically survived with the locomotive being rebuilt and returned to service.
  

• Spies caught buying drinks: On the 3rd September 1940, four spies landed near Lydd. One was caught trying to buy a drink at the Rising Sun pub (still present today). Mabel Cole, wife of the publican, grew suspicious at the accent and the his attempts to buy drinks at 9.30am (locals would have known the licensing hours didn't allow drinks to be sold until 10.30am) and sent him to a local shop until she could get help. Another of the four was caught with radio equipment in a tree on the Lydd to Dungeness road.
  

• German Bomber lands at Lydd: A German bomber plane was diverted by a dummy radar installation at Newberry. The pilot, low on fuel, and lost as a result of the false radar signals he was receiving and believing he was over the Brest Peninsular in France, landed at Lydd and was captured by the local Home Guard. The captured plane was a Dornier Do217, the first of its type seen by English intelligence.
  

• Secret PLUTO Project: Lydd was also instrumental as part of the top-secret Project PLUTO (pipe-line under the ocean), a pipe-line linking oil refineries on the Hoo peninsular with invasion forces in Cherbourg, France. At its peak, the link delivered over one million gallons a day of petrol to allied forces in Europe. A pumping station was situated at Lydd and the pipe-line was constructed with help from the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch light Railway.
  

• Mulberry Harbour. For the D-Day invasion huge man-made harbours were made and floated across the Channel to allow allied forces to land on the French beaches. Prior to the invasion, a number of these hollow-concrete blocks were stored off the coast at Littlestone. One of these huge blocks ran aground just off Littlestone and can still be seen today at low tide.
  
  

  Several villages around the Marsh were also home to airfields during World War II.

More recently, the army ranges across the Marshes have been used for training troops heading for Afghanistan and Iraq.

References

1: The Invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar with replies to remarks of the Astronomer Royal, by Thomas Lewin.

2: The History of Romney Marsh, by William Holloway

Last update: 19-07-2008 01:02