front cover outside RMRT Logo Registered Charity No. 297736 THE ROMNEY MARSH IRREGULAR The Newsletter of the Romney Marsh Research Trust No. 37 Spring 2011 Statement of Aims The Romney Marsh Research Trust exists to promote, co-ordinate and disseminate research into the historical, social, economic and physical development of Romney and Walland Marshes and their immediate hinterlands. The Trust invites individuals to become, on payment of a subscription, a Friend of the Romney Marsh Research Trust and to participate in lectures, conferences, field visits and research projects. The Friends receive a biannual publication, The Romney Marsh Irregular, which publishes research notes and provides a forum for debate. The Trust receives, raises and holds funds to meet grant applications from academic and other researchers, in order to support credible academic research into the Marsh, of a high standard, which can subsequently form the basis for a wider publication to the local communities. The Trust produces monographs containing the most recent high quality research papers. To date, four such monographs have been published, to high academic acclaim. Adopted by the Trustees of the Romney Marsh Research Trust 30th September 2008 © Romney Marsh Research Trust and individual authors Contents The Editor’s bit ............................................................................... 1 The Secretary writes ...... ................................................................ 2 Corrections...................................................................................... 4 References received ........................................................................ 4 Whither research? ........................................................................... 6 Holidays by the Sea ........................................................................ 9 Electricity in the Stones ................................................................ 14 Preliminary results of the New Romney First Time Sewerage Scheme.......................................................................................... 16 A purple patch at RSPB Dungeness ............................................. 25 The impact of the Napoleonic Wars on the Romney Marsh ........ 28 The Editor’s bit Welcome to the latest edition of the Irregular. Among the articles our Secretary asks what should be the future direction[s] of research by the Trust and invites suggestions/comments by members and friends. Do please respond; the editor will be only too happy to publish any rejoinders. One suggestion is that the Trust should give more emphasis to recording and studying the more recent past and this vein Beryl Coates writes on her family’s involvement with the early days of seaside holidays. Beryl has also kindly provided the image on the cover, which is of the Littlestone clubhouse c.1931. Travelling back in time, Anthony Kimber, who led last summer’s study day, writes on the local responses to the invasion threats posed by Napoleon while James Holman reports on the extensive excavations undertaken by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust in New Romney. As many readers probably know the RSPB reserve at Dungeness scored a UK first this year when a pair of purple herons nested there. Chris Hawkins has kindly provided an article on this event. As usual my thanks must go to all those who have contributed articles and to David Williams and Roger Nixon who ensure that my efforts get printed and distributed on time. 1 The deadline dates for the Autumn 2011 edition [No.38] will be 31st May 2011 while that for the Spring 2012 edition [No.39] will be 30th November 2011. All contributions will be most welcome and as usual I would also like to hear about papers, books etc. that have relevance to the Marsh and have been published elsewhere. Alan Tyler The Secretary writes ...... The main event of the autumn was the Day Conference at Kent University to launch the latest Monograph and debate the future direction of research. This important debate is reported elsewhere in the Irregular. Please email me ([email protected]) with any research ideas, especially if you are interested in a training day on Oral History, sometime in the summer, probably in Rye. If there is enough interest I will organise something. The AGM, held at Tenterden Town Hall on 22nd October, opened with a social hour organised by the membership secretary Roger Nixon before the business of the evening. We are very grateful to him and to Marion Gulliver, one of our members, for presiding over the drinks. The formal business of the evening was conducted by Professor Martyn Waller. Dr Gill Draper and Philip Merricks were re-elected Executive Committee Members, while economist David Starkie was elected as a new member. The Chair of the Trustees, Sarah Pearson thanked Martyn for steering through the editing and production of the latest Monograph. The main event of the evening was a talk by Dr Barry Yates, a Trustee and Manager of the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. He invited the audience to choose five words to describe their experiences of the Marsh landscape. Flat, windy, big skies, canals and sewers, sheep, windmills and birds were just some of the suggestions. The Living Landscape of the Marsh is made up of many layers, with many stakeholders seeing it from many perspectives. The Marsh is a working landscape for farmers, a rich area for wildlife, especially in its wetland areas and a fascinating historical landscape. This includes Roman, Medieval and Tudor Castles, medieval sea defences, a canal to keep a port open, military defences from the Napoleonic and World Wars and a host of enigmatic Marshland churches. 2 Our wetlands are accorded Ramsar status; named after town in Iran where a conference was held in 1971. This is an international recognition of the ecological importance of the sites and their successful good management. Barry Yates is hugely increasing the area of wetland at the Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Dr Yates’ own focus was on biodiversity, with a fascinating journey into alien species on the Marsh, some of which, especially the New Zealand Pigmyweed (Crassula helmsii) are extremely threatening and difficult to treat. The only answer would appear to require a biological solution, using a natural predator from its native country. Good things from New Zealand however include the once native British bumblebee, which were taken out to pollinate purple clover but are now extinct in this country. These bees, flown over from New Zealand, are now being re-introduced to the Marsh, as a part of the Living Landscape Project, of which the RMRT is a partner organisation. Some months ago a researcher at Talk Back Thames TV contacted the Trust to ask for information as they are making a television documentary series called Great British Railway Journeys following the Victorian Railway guides by George Bradshaw to explore social and local history. One of the routes includes Romney Marsh where they filmed a short piece about the Romney Marsh sheep and the late 19th/early 20th century ‘lookers’ and ‘lookers’ huts. Due be broadcast on BBC2 at 6.30 pm, the date has not been scheduled at the time of writing For the Spring Lecture, Professor Maryanne Kowaleski, Centre for Medieval Studies, Fordham University, New York, will be speaking on “The Medieval Cinque Port of Hythe” at Hythe Town Hall on Wednesday 23rd March. This is something of a coup for the Trust and we are very fortunate that she is visiting England at this time. Later in the year, on 28th May, the Trust is returning to the idea of a study walk, with a ramble from Brenzett to Brookland Church and back, via the Rhee Wall and Miselham’s planned landscape. Lunch at the Royal Oak, Brookland (or bring sandwiches). A booking form for both these events is included in this Irregular. Terry Burke 3 Corrections Gill Draper has drawn the editor’s attention to the following slight errors in the paper by Bellinger & Draper that was published in the monograph. John Motesfont, priest of Lydd, bequeathed books to New College, Oxford, rather than Oriel College in the early fifteenth century, at which time both were known as the college of St Mary (Reg. Chich. I, lxxvii, 184, 196; II, 210-11, 666.). Although Thomas Godfrey of Hodiford possessed a 'book of Lydd', it is convincingly argued in Paul Lee's work that it was written by his father Thomas Godfrey. As Lee noted, Lydd was 'full of Godfreys', but the research reported in the monograph makes clear that the writer of the book of Lydd was 'our' Thomas Godfrey II who lived from 1553-1623. not Thomas of Hodiford as my wording suggests (Lee 1995, 406, 408). The full references are in the paper in the fifth monograph by Bellinger & Draper, although these two errors are entirely mine! References received Herewith a few references to publications relevant to the Marsh and adjacent areas that have been drawn to the attention of the Editor during the last six months. Campbell, J. (2010) The History of St Nicholas, New Romney, [New Romney PCC and Friends of St Nicholas] Crick, N.P. (2010) The Lookers’ Huts: A photographic exploration of the lookers’ huts of the Romney Marshes [Brighton: Book Guild Publishing] Draper, G. (2010) Timber and iron: Natural resources for the late medieval shipbuilding industry in Kent, In: Sweetinburgh, S. (ed) Later Medieval Kent 1220-1540 [Woodbridge: Boydell Press] Waller, M., Edwards, E. & Barber, L. (eds) (2010) Romney Marsh: Persistence and change in a coastal lowland [Sevenoaks: Romney Marsh Research