
Denge Marsh , also spelled Dengemarsh and occasionally called the Denge, is a part of
Romney Marsh
Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...
in
Kent
Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...
. Its north-west boundary is the town of
Lydd
Lydd is a town and electoral ward in Kent, England, lying on Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger settlements on the marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Lydd reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a ...
; to the south-east is Denge Beach and
Dungeness.
[One-inch map of Great Britain: Sheet 184, Hastings. Ordnance Survey 1969.]
History
In Roman times, the area which is now Romney Marsh was under water;
Lympne
Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympn ...
and
Appledore, now on the northern edge of Romney Marsh, were coastal ports. There were islands in the area, including Lydd. Denge Marsh, south-east of Lydd, was one of the earliest parts in the area to be reclaimed; this is recorded in a charter of A.D. 744. Reclamation of the adjacent area, the present-day
Walland Marsh which is to the north-west of Lydd, continued through the Middle Ages. Drainage dykes, known locally as sewers, were built.
[History of Romney Marsh]
The Romney Marsh.net, accessed 3 Nov 2014.
Sound mirrors
At the north-eastern edge of Denge Marsh, near
Greatstone-on-Sea, are the
sound mirrors at
Denge: they are large concrete structures, built as an experiment between 1928 and 1930, by which sound could be focussed onto microphones, so giving an early warning of the approach of enemy aircraft. They soon became obsolete with the invention of radar.
History:Sound Mirrors
greatstone.net, accessed 3 Nov 2014.
References
{{coord, 50, 56, 15, N, 0, 55, 15, E, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Marshes of England
Landforms of Kent