| Lydd | |
Arms of Lydd Town Council |
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Lydd
Lydd shown within Kent |
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| Population | 5,782 (2001)[1] |
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| District | Shepway |
| Shire county | Kent |
| Region | South East |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | Romney Marsh |
| Postcode district | TN29 |
| Police | Kent |
| Fire | Kent |
| Ambulance | South East Coast |
| EU Parliament | South East England |
| UK Parliament | Folkestone and Hythe |
| List of places: UK • England • Kent | |
Lydd is a town in Kent, England, lying on the Romney Marsh. It is one of the larger towns on the marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Actually located on Denge Marsh, Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called the Romney Marsh. The name Hlyda, which derives from the Latin word for "shore", was found in a Saxon charter dating from the 8th century.
The parish of Lydd comprises the town of Lydd, Dungeness, Lydd-on-Sea and parts of Greatstone.
Notable buildings in Lydd include a guildhall and a mediaeval courthouse. Chamberlains and churchwardens accounts of the 15th century survive alongside the town charters.
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Lydd reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a corporate member of the Cinque Ports, a "limb" of Romney.[1]
As with much of the marsh, the town was a base for smuggling in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Before World War I Lydd became an important artillery practice camp. Experiments with high explosives carried out on the shingle wastes around 1888 led to the invention of the explosive Lyddite. Lydd was at one time a garrison town and the area is still an important training ground for the armed forces, at one time having an extensive narrow gauge railway network.
Lydd is also the site of an airfield, the first constructed in Britain after World War II. Lydd Airport is now known as London Ashford Airport.[2]
In more recent years, the small town of Lydd has rather quickly turned a one-off drunken idea into an annual event that has cemented itself into both the history and heart of the town. Known simply as 'Pirate Friday', local residents gather on the 3rd Friday in June dressed in outrageous pirate gears; this is soon followed by copious amounts of rum being consumed and the shouting 'Yaaaaarrrrrh'. The source and evolution of the event is unfortunately unknown, with many people within Lydd and the surrounding area staking claim. However, despite the ongoing battle to decide who actually created Pirate Friday, the fact remains that it has now undoubtedly become the most important day in Lydd's history.
On the 3rd of September 1940, four German spies landed near the town on the coast between Hythe and Dungeness, but were soon caught. It would seem they were ill trained, with only one able to speak English. One of the German infiltrators was arrested in a local pub, the Rising Sun (owned by Clifford Cole), at 9.30 am, because he wanted to buy a drink, and locals would have known the pub did not open until 10.00 am. This suspicious behaviour at the time tipped off a local RAF officer, and the visitor failed to produce a required permit permitting him to travel freely along the coastline, and was handed over to the local police. Another of the four was caught and it was discovered he had hidden radio equipment in a tree not far from the Lydd to Dungeness road. At least three of them were sentenced to death by hanging at Pentonville Prison. At least two of the men proved to be Dutch in origin, and were recruited as spies as a result of their complicity in currency smuggling.
On October 21, a Dornier was forced to land at the Lydd aerodrome, short of fuel, having been confused in his bearings whilst attempting to return to France, by the use of recently invented equipment devised to interrupt the homing beams sent from Germany to guide such planes. The Dornier was the first example of this new type of bomber to fall into the hands of British Intelligence. Lydd's wartime airfield was situated north of the town - only one Nissen hut now remains.
A Wellington bomber had the misfortune to crash-land on 26 June on returning from a 1,500-plane attack on Bremen. The 19-year-old pilot managed to get the plane down safely near Lydd, and the crew survived the crash, but were not certain they were in England until rescuers came to their assistance.
On the 27 November, a train came under attack by two Focke-Wulf 190s. The train, haulded by Southern Railway D3 number 2365 which was just departing from Lydd Town railway station, had its boiler hit. The resulting jet of high pressure steam from the engine hit the plane, causing it to crash-land nearby, the pilot was found dead, but no railway staff or passengers were injured. The two planes, had been heading over the coast after a raid on Ashford.
A pumping station was built at Lydd, linking Dungeness with a Petroleum pipeline from Walton-on-Thames. Although top secret at the time, this was part of the project Pluto: "Pipe-Line-Under-The-Ocean", a secret plan to supply petrol across the Channel, to fuel the invasion forces. Begun in 1942, the plan included a thousand miles of pipelines linking Grain on the Hoo peninsula, and other oil refineries, first to Dungeness and soon after to Sandown on the Isle of Wight, where pumping stations were set up to successfully carry over 6,000 tons of fuel a day to Cherbourg. The Romney Hythe and Dymchurch light railway was used to assist in the construction of this project, which at its peak in 1945 was able to deliver one million gallons of fuel a day to the allied armies in Europe.
The fuel was pumped through steel pipes made by Stewarts and Lloyds at their (then) recently completed, integrated iron & steel tube-making plant at Corby, Northamptonshire. Sections of straight steel tube were welded together before being wound like a thread onto a huge drum - called HMS Conundrum, which was towed across the Channel several times to lay the network of pipes required. The company made a film about the project just after the war, which can be viewed at a heritage centre near Corby.
Extrapolating from the work of the late Mr. Leland Duncan, "The Monumental Inscriptions in Lydd Church and Churchyard", it is evident that a large number of sailors rest in the parish churchyard of the ancient Saxon church of Lydd, all victims of the stormy seas along this dangerous coast. Of these, six were drowned with the wreck of the "Northfleet" in January 1873, and Tom Edgar who was with Captain Cook in 1779, when he sailed around the world and then was killed in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii, by cannibals. Edgar ended his days as a coastguard at Dungeness on the southern edge of the parish.</ref> Gravestone now preserved in side chapel of church</ref>
The church was long thought to be Saxon in origin, but recent studies have dated the oldest section to the latter half of the 5th century, making it Romano-British. The earliest existing tomb in the churchyard belongs to the Strugell family and dates from 1551. "It is one of the earliest extramural monuments in the country".
Within the church, which is the longest parish church in Kent, the ancient family of Godfrey of Lydd are represented by a brass in the C13th nave which has the date 1430 upon it, and a bust set in the north wall of the chancel; descendants of this family are to be found on World War II memorial. The church was adorned with paintings, and writings provided by churchwarden John Marketman in 1611. The church interior was restored in the 18th century when box pews were replaced with oak pews to give a seating capacity of 1,000. In 1940 the chancel was destroyed by a stray bomb; being re-built after the war in the early English style and removing the Victorian 'restroration' of the east end.
The tower, at 132 feet, is one of the tallest in Kent, with a fine ring of eight bells. It overlooks an old holm oak, on top of which several heron nests can be observed on open days.
The list of rectors includes Thomas Wolsey (who later became Cardinal) though it is doubtful that he ever attended, as he held a number of churches in plurality, employing a curate and keeping the tythes for himself.
The church registers for christenings and marriages begin in 1542; for burials, 1539.
David Denne of the family of that name from Lydd was Deputy Lieutenant and Justice of the Peace for the County of Kent, and formerly Captain of the East Kent and Cinque Ports Yeomanry, and Bailiff of the town Corporation 23 times. He died in December 1861 aged 63.[3]
The parish encompasses four electricity industry sites: Dungeness A & B Nuclear Power Stations, a substation of the National Grid, and a former static inverter plant used by the HVDC Cross-Channel between 1961 and 1984. Dungeness A has now ceased electricity production and is in the process of being de-commissioned.
Lydd has two football clubs, Lydd Town, was established in 1885. They currently play in Division One East of the Kent County League and Lydd United F.C. established in 2009. They currently play in the Ashford and District Saturday League. They also have a very good kart/minimoto track called Lydd International Kart Circuit. Lydd Cricket Club is based at the Banks, Dennes Lane, sharing also with Brenzett C.C. Both the ground and pavilion belong to the Town Council.
Lydd has two paid for newspapers, the Romney Marsh Herald (published by Kent Regional News and Media) and the Kentish Express (published by the KM Group. Free newspapers for the town include the Folkestone and Hythe Extra, part of the KM Group; and yourshepway, part of KOS Media,there is also a fortnightly publication called "The Looker" published by the owners of RMFM.
The local radio station for Lydd is KMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country. Lydd is also served by the county-wide stations Heart, Gold and BBC Radio Kent; and has good coverage of stations based in East Sussex.
There are several websites that cover the Romney Marsh. The main one is romneymarsh.co.uk which is becoming more and more popular as time goes by.
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