New Romney Kent in old England

Hello we have paid a visit to our old home village New Romney on the Kentish coast. UK

Our little holiday house Buttfield Cottage served us well from 1976 till 1981 when we returned to Australia with Kellie-Ann and Catherine (Citt).


New Romney is a Cinque port. The Cinque Ports cover the whole of the southern coast from Dover to Hastings.

In the late Anglo-Saxon era, the threat of Norse invasion was constant. For a time England had a Danish king in the person of Cnut (Canute) but after his death the Anglo-Saxon Edward the Confessor did his best to keep the Norse threat at bay.

The key to the security of the realm as Edward saw it was to control the English Channel. To this end he granted the ports of Sandwich, Dover, and New Romney, all in Kent, the right to keep all legal fees assigned in court cases. This was quite a profitable concession for the towns involved, and made them far more prosperous than most towns of similar size elsewhere in the country.

In exchange, the towns agreed to provide ships and sailors for defense when required by the crown. To the original three ports later added Hastings in Sussex, and Hythe, in Kent.

These five coastal towns made up the five ports (in Norman French the "Cinque Ports"). In the 13th century Rye and Winchelsea joined nearby Hastings and in the next century gained legal status as "Ancient Towns", affiliated with the Cinque Ports.

The need for defense was so great that a large number of other towns became allied to the major ports. Thus, inland Tenterden became an ally of Rye, and Pevenseyan ally of Hastings. This 'coastal confederation' reached a total of 42 towns at its medieval peak. Source http://www.britainexpress.com/History/cinque-ports.htm

In later years the Napoleonic Wars created alarm and the military canal was built along with the Martello Towers. The canal is a boaties dream and the Martello towers are for the tourists to gawk at. Later Adolf created WW2 and the ports were the first line of defense. Wooden tanks and field guns lined the foreshore. They fooled Adolf. Pill boxes were built along with concrete gun emplacements. These are still evident.

Walmer Castle near Deal (Kent) is the official residence of the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, a post little more than ceremonial today, but once of huge national importance.

The late Sir Robert Menzies held that office from 1966 till his death in 1978 as well as Constable of Dover and took residence at Walmer Castle. When we lived in the UK (1970-1981) for us it was comforting to see the Australian flag fluttering from the New Romney town hall one street from our weekend cottage.
Sir Robert Menzies was the longest serving Australian Prime Minister, 18 years 5 months and 12 days. He was a royalist and created the Australian Liberal Party. His awards are numerous from Univeristies throughout the world. source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Menzies#Retirement_and_Legacy

We spent some time with our friend Sandra who nows lives in the idylic surrounds of New Romney catching up with her family and news. We did a pub crawl but I'm afraid those days are gone for us so we sat and talked till the wee hours. The next day we spent exploring the streets and looking at old landmarks.

The Romney Hythe and Dymchurch railway serves the ports and it is the smallest steam rail still operating in the world. The little engines were mostly built in 1926 and still do the school run every day and haul excited tourists in the summer months.

The churches are interesting as I am not sure if they are churches or small fortresses. Whatever we had an interesting afternoon photographing and being silly in the marshes.

Enjoy. To us this is one of the most interesting and beautiful areas of England. From here we travel to Eastbourne, Maidstone and back to London.

Image 1 Buttfield Cottage Church Rd New Romney ( our old holiday home)
Image 2 Map of Cinque Ports
Image 3 Chalk Cliffs
Image 4 Romney Cathedral
Image 5 Sandra and her mob. Tyler, Sonny, Beau and Daughter Rae. (Our God Daughter)
Image 6 Santas' Sleigh Romney Hythe and Dymchurch rail.
(Note the size of the engine) it is on a stand.