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Dymchurch
Dymchurch is a village and civil parish in the Folkestone and Hythe district of Kent, England. The village is located on the coast five miles (8 km) south-west of Hythe, and on the Romney Marsh. History The history of Dymchurch began with the gradual build-up of the Romney Marsh. New Hall was rebuilt in 1575 after an earlier wooden structure was destroyed in a fire. It was used as a court room for the Romney Marsh area. The head magistrate was known as Leveller of the Marsh Scotts. It was there that the so-called Scot tax was introduced, levied on residents to fund maintenance of the sea wall. Those directly outside the boundaries and thus not eligible for the tax were said to have got away "scot free". Residents with land were required to grow thorn bushes for building of the wall, as thorn twigs were believed impervious to sea water. Failure resulted in an ear being cut off. During the 17th and 18th centuries, smuggling was rife all along the south-east coast of England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romney, Hythe And Dymchurch Railway
The Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (RH&DR) is a gauge light railway in Kent, England, operating steam and internal combustion locomotives. The line runs from the Cinque Port of Hythe via Dymchurch, St. Mary's Bay, New Romney and Romney Sands to Dungeness, close to Dungeness nuclear power station and Dungeness Lighthouse. History Planning The railway was the dream of millionaire racing drivers Captain John Edwards Presgrave ("Jack") Howey and Count Louis Zborowski. The latter had constructed a railway at Higham Park, his home at Bridge, Kent, and agreed to donate the rolling stock and infrastructure to the project. However, he was killed on 19 October 1924 in a motor racing accident at the Monza Grand Prix before the Romney Marsh site was chosen, and Howey continued the project alone. After Howey had unsuccessfully attempted to buy the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway and extend it, he investigated a greenfield site between Burnham-on-Sea and Weston-super-Mare in Somers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doctor Syn
The Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. The first book, ''Doctor Syn: A Tale of the Romney Marsh'' was published in 1915. The story idea came from smuggling in the 18th-century Romney Marsh, where brandy and tobacco were brought in at night by boat from France to avoid the tax. Minor battles were fought, sometimes at night, between gangs of smugglers, such as the Hawkhurst Gang, and the Revenue, supported by the army and local militias in the South, Kent and the West, Sussex. Character biography Christopher Syn, born 1729, is portrayed as a brilliant scholar from Queen's College, Oxford, possessing swashbuckling skills such as riding, fencing, and seamanship. He was content to live the quiet life of a country vicar in Dymchurch-under-the-Wall under the patronage of Sir Charles Cobtree, the father of his best friend Anthony Cobtree, until his beautiful young Spanish wife Imogene was seduced by and eloped with Nicho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dymchurch Martello Tower
Dymchurch Martello Tower is a Martello tower in Dymchurch, Kent England. It stands immediately behind the sea wall. It has been designated by English Heritage as a scheduled monument and a Grade II listed building. The towers, ranging along the Kent and East Sussex shoreline, were built in the early years of the nineteenth century as part of a coastal defence programme against a threatened French invasion under Napoleon. The 24th of 75 such towers, it was placed to protect the gates of marsh sluices with its counterpart Tower no 25 (which is now largely derelict). Tower 23 was restored externally in the early 1970sSheila Sutcliffe and is currently a private residence. Tower 24 was then restored using Tower 23 as a guide. In 1969, it became the first Martello tower to be opened to the public and remains as a museum of the Martello Towers, owned by English Heritage. It has a 24-pounder Muzzleloader, muzzle-loading cannon on the gun platform. ThFriends of Martello24act as custod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dymchurch Redoubt
Dymchurch Grand Redoubt is a fortification at Palmarsh on the coast of Kent in England, built during the Napoleonic War as part of a large defensive scheme to protect the country from an expected French invasion. Description Dymchurch Redoubt is circular in form and built of brick with granite and sandstone dressings. It measures up to 68 metres in diameter and stands 12 metres above the floor of its 9-metre-wide ditch or dry moat. It lacks the caponiers or musketry galleries of the otherwise similar Eastbourne Redoubt. Beyond the moat, an earth bank or glacis helped to protect the masonry from artillery fire. Built on two stories, the upper floor had open emplacements for ten 24 pounder guns mounted on wooden traversing platforms. The lower floor featured twenty-four vaulted barrack and storage casemates that opened onto a circular parade ground. They were designed to accommodate 350 officers and men. Entry was originally via a wooden footbridge supported by stilts, which c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 18th century. Due to its location, geography and isolation, it was a smuggler's paradise between the 1600s and 1800s. The area has long been used for sheep pasture: Romney Marsh sheep are considered one of the most successful and important sheep breeds. Criss-crossed with numerous waterways, and with some areas lying below sea level, the Marsh has over time sustained a gradual level of reclamation, both through natural causes and by human intervention. Governance An electoral ward in the same name exists. This ward had a population of 2,358 at the 2011 census. Quotations *“As Egypt was the gift of the Nile, this level tract ... has by the bounty of the sea been by degrees added to the land, so that I may not without reason call it the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Nash (artist)
Paul Nash (11 May 1889 – 11 July 1946) was a British surrealist painter and war artist, as well as a photographer, writer and designer of applied art. Nash was among the most important landscape artists of the first half of the twentieth century. He played a key role in the development of Modernism in English art. Born in London, Nash grew up in Buckinghamshire where he developed a love of the landscape. He entered the Slade School of Art but was poor at figure drawing and concentrated on landscape painting. Nash found much inspiration in landscapes with elements of ancient history, such as burial mounds, Iron Age hill forts such as Wittenham Clumps and the standing stones at Avebury in Wiltshire. The artworks he produced during World War I are among the most iconic images of the conflict. After the war Nash continued to focus on landscape painting, originally in a formalized, decorative style but, throughout the 1930s, in an increasingly abstract and surreal manner. In his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martello Tower
Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typically had a garrison of one officer and 15–25 men. Their round structure and thick walls of solid masonry made them resistant to cannon fire, while their height made them an ideal platform for a single heavy artillery piece, mounted on the flat roof and able to traverse, and hence fire, over a complete 360° circle. A few towers had moats or other batteries and works attached for extra defence. The Martello towers were used during the first half of the 19th century, but became obsolete with the introduction of powerful rifled artillery. Many have survived to the present day, often preserved as historic monuments. Origins Martello towers were inspired by a round fortress, part of a larger Genoese ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
St Mary's Bay, Kent
St Mary's Bay, also known as The Bay, is a coastal village in Kent, England. Situated on Romney Marsh, St Mary's Bay has a long sandy beach which stretches north to Dymchurch and south to Littlestone-on-Sea. It has a station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. History During the 1950s and 1960s, St Mary's Bay was a popular destination for vacationers. 'The Bay' had a number of holiday camps, among them Maddieson's Golden Sands at Dunstall Lane, the School Journey Centre at Jefferstone Lane, and the Rugby Club camp on the opposite (sea) side of the A259 main road between Jefferstone Lane and Taylor's Lane. The School Journey Center closed at the end of the 1970s, and the site is now occupied by a housing estate. Also at St Mary's Bay was the Sands Holiday Motel and accompanying Bahia Bar, sited on the seafront roughly opposite the turning to Jefferstone Lane on the A259. The hotel and bar were demolished after being badly damaged in the Great Storm of 1987. St Mary's Bay ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
First Men In The Moon (1964 Film)
''First Men in the Moon'' is a 1964 British science fiction film, produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Nathan Juran, and starring Edward Judd, Martha Hyer and Lionel Jeffries. The film, distributed by Columbia Pictures, is an adaptation by screenwriter Nigel Kneale of H. G. Wells' 1901 novel ''The First Men in the Moon''. Ray Harryhausen provided the stop-motion animation effects, which include the Selenites, giant caterpillar-like "Moon Cows" and the large-brained Grand Lunar. The film was made five years prior to man first landing on the Moon. Plot In 1964, the United Nations has launched a rocket flight to the Moon. A multi-national group of astronauts in the UN spacecraft land, believing themselves to be the first lunar explorers. However, they discover a Union Jack flag on the surface and a note mentioning Katherine Callender, which claims the Moon for Queen Victoria. Attempting to trace Callender in the records office in Dymchurch in Kent, south-east England, the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Folkestone And Hythe (District)
Folkestone and Hythe is a local government district in Kent, England, in the south-east of the county. Its council is based in the town of Folkestone. The authority was renamed from Shepway in April 2018, and therefore has the same name as the Folkestone and Hythe parliamentary constituency, although a somewhat narrower area is covered by the district. Most of the population live in the coastal towns of Folkestone and Hythe. The north of the district mainly consists of landscape villages interspersed with woods along parts of the North Downs, while the south features a coastal expanse of lower lying, periodically reclaimed villages in less forested Romney Marsh, which has a number of communities extensively built in the medieval period and 17th century as centres of the Romney Marsh wool trade. The district's economy is influenced by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link and the M20 motorway, while the tourism and allied retail sectors provide key sources of employment. History The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hythe, Kent
Hythe () is a coastal market town on the edge of Romney Marsh, in the district of Folkestone and Hythe on the south coast of Kent. The word ''Hythe'' or ''Hithe'' is an Old English word meaning haven or landing place. History The town has mediaeval and Georgian buildings, as well as a Saxon/Norman church on the hill and a Victorian seafront promenade. Hythe was once defended by two castles, Saltwood and Lympne. Hythe Town Hall, a neoclassical style building, was completed in 1794. Hythe's market once took place in Market Square (now Red Lion Square) close to where there is now a farmers' market every second and fourth Saturday of the month. Hythe has gardening, horse riding, bowling, tennis, cricket, football, squash and sailing clubs. Lord Deedes was once patron of Hythe Civic Society. As an important Cinque Port Hythe once possessed a bustling harbour which, over the course of 300 years, has now disappeared due to silting. Hythe was the central Cinque Port, sitting bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 the French department of Pas-de-Calais across the Strait of Dover. The county town is Maidstone. It is the fifth most populous county in England, the most populous non-Metropolitan county and the most populous of the home counties. Kent was one of the first British territories to be settled by Germanic tribes, most notably the Jutes, following the withdrawal of the Romans. Canterbury Cathedral in Kent, the oldest cathedral in England, has been the seat of the Archbishops of Canterbury since the conversion of England to Christianity that began in the 6th century with Saint Augustine. Rochester Cathedral in Medway is England's second-oldest cathedral. Located between London and the Strait of Dover, which separates England from mainla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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