Church Micro 3244…Lydd – Midley Traditional Cache
Church Micro 3244…Lydd – Midley
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Cache Description
The cache is a 0.24 litre snap lock container
Please take care to ensure that no damage is done to the church (such as the dislodging of stones or digging of holes), this is an offence under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (as amended).
Placed with permission and approval of English Heritage.
Location Information
The Romney Marshes stretches from Hastings to Hythe and it is full of varied wildlife and history.
Originally the Midley Church stood here on a low sandbank, which was quite possibly an island. (The -ey- of Midley means island).
It stands near the original tidal mouth of the River Rother but the church was abandoned at the time of the Black Death and this ruin is all that remains. After the Black Death, the land could no longer be worked as arable and it ended up being used for more profitable sheep rearing.
Today the River Rother flows into the sea below Rye; but until 1287 its mouth lay between Romney and Lydd. The river mouth was wide with a huge lagoon making Rye a port at its western end. That lagoon lay behind a large island, which now makes up a large part of the Denge Marsh, on which stood the ports of Lydd and the old Winchelsea. All these ports were members of the Cinque Ports.
Much of the land around the church was transferred in about 1440 by the Archbishop of Canterbury Henry Chichele to All Souls College in Oxford where it was used as an additional source of rent income.
Midley was formerly a separate parish which was incorporated into Old Romney in 1934. The church had fallen into decay by 1573.
Churches with no congregations however quickly fell into disuse, although the clergy can continue to collect parish tithes from the local farmers.
Russell Thorndike even wrote a series of novels based on the character Dr Syn, the vicar of Dymchurch, in which it is revealed Dr Syn has a sinister past. He was once a sinister pirate Captain Clegg and also the mysterious 'Scarecrow of the Romney Marsh'.
The flat, almost empty landscape of the marshes made for a smuggler's paradise throughout the 17th, 18th and into the 19th centuries. The traffic was two-way, since wool was also smuggled to the Continent. The Victorians made smugglers into romantic anti-heroes; in truth they were unscrupulous villains. The two main gangs on the Marsh were the Owlers and The Aldington Gang, known also as The Blues.
Access to these church ruins is near Swamp Crossing Farm, there is a stile on the sharp bend in the road which has a public footpath crossing over a stoney and sandy field towards the ruins of the church.
Other churches that fell into disrepair and lost in the area are:
Hope All Saints - in ruins by the 16th Century.
Broomhill - which was destroyed by the sea.
Eastbridge - deserted in the 15th Century.
If anybody would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the Church numbers and names to avoid duplication
To view the church micro stats page, please click here
At the time of placing on the 27th January 2013, the cache contained:
FTF badge.
Log book and pencil in a small resealable bag.
Resealable bag for small swap items and small trackables.
Please ensure cache is well hidden again afterwards.
Congratulations to Velosaurus on FTF at 15:00 on 05/02/2013
Cache placed with approval and permission from English Heritage ©2013
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Guvf bapr jnf n ubyl cynpr.
Treasures
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