Looking towards the Isle of Oxney - geograph

Isle of Oxney is an area in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England, close to the boundary with

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

. Up to the 13th century, the island was part of the coastline bordering what is now the

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 ...

. As that silted up, and until the later 17th century, the River Rother which enters the sea beyond

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

and flowed across Kent in a west–east direction, was in a channel to the north of the island. By the late 17th century, the river had changed its course to the south. The construction of the Royal Military Canal helped drain the remaining land connecting Oxney to the rest of Kent. Today the former sea and river channels are low-lying land, leaving the erstwhile island as high ground, but still retaining its name. Places on the Isle of Oxney include Wittersham, Stone in Oxney and Stone-cum-Ebony.

References

External links

The historical geography of the Isle of Oxney
Former islands of England Geography of Kent {{Kent-geo-stub