The Rumenesea Wall and the early settled landscape of Romney Marsh (Kent)

Abstract

The Rumenesea Wall, a seabank of early medieval date, has been traced for almost 9 kilometres between Snargate and the coastal barrier at New Romney as a consistent rise in ground level toward the south-west averaging about 0.5 metres. It probably is rooted in the Wealden scarp at Appeldorn, but between there and Snargate is today subsumed within the structure of the younger Rhee Wall. The Rumenesea Wall lies north-east of the Rhee Wall and on the far side of the Rumenesea, a waterway recorded from early times with the characteristics, when it became fixed in the landscape, of a modest tidal inlet carrying some freshwater. Together with complementary earthworks identified in the north of Romney Marsh, and the coastal barrier, the Rumenesea Wall provided for the enclosure and defence against the sea of most of Romney Marsh proper. Its construction transformed the coastal wetlands, dividing the area into a north-eastern part, where permanent settlement was assured, from a south-western portion which largely remained for a long period under tidal influence and could not be exploited in this way without further embanking. After the Roman embanking of large parts of the Severn Estuary Levels, the Rumenesea Wall is perhaps the earliest seabank of any substantial length to be constructed on a British coastal lowland. The landscape changes its construction brought about illustrate a social and economic movement for which there is evidence on much of the north-west European littoral.

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