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Lydd

Coordinates:50°57′03″N0°54′23″E/ 50.9509°N 0.9064°E/50.9509; 0.9064
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This article is about the town in England. For the city of Lydd in Israel, seeLod.

Lydd
The Rype, Lydd
Lydd is located in Kent
Lydd
Lydd
Location withinKent
Population6,567 (2011)[1]
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townRomney Marsh
Postcode districtTN29
Dialling code01797
PoliceKent
FireKent
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent
50°57′03″N0°54′23″E/ 50.9509°N 0.9064°E/50.9509; 0.9064

Lyddis a town andelectoral wardinKent,England, lying onRomney Marsh.It is one of the larger settlements on the marsh, and the most southerly town in Kent. Lydd reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was a corporate member of theCinque Ports,a "limb" ofRomney.Actually located onDenge Marsh,Lydd was one of the first sandy islands to form as the bay evolved into what is now called Romney Marsh.

The parish of Lydd comprises the town of Lydd,Dungeness,Lydd-on-Seaand parts ofGreatstone-on-Sea.

Notable buildings in Lydd include the Gordon house longhall, a guildhall and amedievalcourthouse.Chamberlains and churchwardens accounts of the 15th century survive alongside the town charters.

Lydd lies to the southwest ofNew Romneyand east ofRye.

History

[edit]
Lydd Guildhall
High Street, Lydd

The place-name 'Lydd' is first attested in anAnglo-Saxon charterof 774, where it appears asad Hlidum.This is the dative plural of theOld Englishhlidmeaning 'slope'.[2]

Lydd developed as a settlement during theRomano-British periodon a shingle island when the coast at the time cut off Lydd from the mainland.[3]The settlement continued into the Saxon period, with the Saxon church using Roman materials as part of its early construction.[4]The town reached the height of its prosperity during the 13th century, when it was acorporate memberof theCinque Ports,a "limb" ofRomney.[5]As with much of the marsh, the town was a base forsmugglingin the 18th and 19th centuries.Lydd Guildhall,which originally accommodated some prison cells, dates back to 1792.[6]

Before and during theFirst World WarLydd Camp was an important artillery practice camp. Experiments with high explosives carried out on the shingle wastes around 1888 led to the invention of the explosiveLyddite.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. NearbyRAF Dengewas established between the wars, including pioneering acoustic mirrors.

In the 20th century the hamlets of Lade[7]and Lydd-on-Sea developed along the coast east of Lydd, mostly consisting of bungalows.

Second World War

[edit]
Aerial view of Lydd with the airfield in the centre of the photograph
Messerschmitt Bf 109E,probably Bf 109E-1 (W.Nr. 3576)Red 13of 7./JG 54,flown by Uffz. Zimmermann, which crashed near Lydd on 27 October 1940

In September 1940, one of four young Dutch men who had landed on the coast between Hythe and Dungeness in a rowing boat was arrested for spying shortly after drinking at the Rising Sun pub.[8]

On 21 October, aDornier Do 17was forced to land atRAF Lydd,short of fuel, the pilot having been confused in his bearings whilst attempting to return to France, by the use of recently inventedequipment devised to interrupt the homing beamssent from Germany to guide such planes. The Dornier was the first example of this new type of bomber to fall into the hands ofBritish Intelligence.RAF Lyddwas situated north of the town – only oneNissen hutnow remains.

AVickers Wellingtonbomber had the misfortune to crash-land on 26 June on returning from a 1,500-plane attack onBremen.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 27 November 1942, a train came under attack by twoFocke-Wulf Fw 190s.The train, hauled bySouthern RailwayD3number 2365 which was just departing fromLydd 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 onAshfordand attacking a minesweeper off Dover.[9]

All Saints' Church

[edit]
Main article:All Saints Church, Lydd

All Saints' Church, also known as Lydd Church or The Cathedral on the Marsh,[10][11]belongs to theDiocese of Canterbury.All Saints is the longest parish church in Kent at 199 feet (61 m), and also has one of the tallest towers in the county at 132 feet (40 m). The church is thought to incorporate a smallRomano-Britishbasilicapossibly built in the 5th century, though most of the current fabric is medieval.[12]It was associated with local fraternities orGuildsin the 15th century and could seat 1,000 people at a time. Severely damaged by World War II bombing, the church was subsequently restored and became a Grade I listed building in 1950.[11]

Lydd church with its tall tower was a major link in the chain oftrigonometricmeasuring points for theAnglo-French Survey (1784–1790)linking theRoyal Greenwich Observatoryand theParis Observatory.This eighteenth-century survey was led by GeneralWilliam Roy,and included a secondary base-line for checking purposes onRomney Marsh,betweenRuckingeandDymchurch.The primary base-line was onHounslow Heath.All Saints' Lydd was the main intermediate point on the south coast betweenFairlight Downto the west andDover Castleto the east.

Economy

[edit]

The parish encompasses four electricity industry sites:Dungeness A & B Nuclear Power Stations,asubstationof theNational Grid,and a formerstatic inverter plantused by theHVDC Cross-Channelbetween 1961 and 1984. Dungeness A has now ceased electricity production and is in the process of being de-commissioned. There are several sewers in the area, including Dengemarsh Sewer, Jury's Gut Sewer, and Scotney Petty Sewer.

Sport

[edit]

Lydd has two football clubs,Lydd Townestablished in 1885,[13]and Lydd United established in 2009.[14]Lydd Town play in theKent Invicta Football League.United play in the Ashford and District Saturday League. Lydd also has a kart/minimoto track called Lydd International Kart Circuit.[15]Lydd Cricket Club is based at the Banks, Dennes Lane.[16]Both the ground and pavilion belong to the Town Council.

Lydd Golf Club and Driving Range is on the Romney Road in Lydd. Apart from the 18-hole championship quality course, it boasts an 18-bay covered driving range, a 6-hole par 3 course, two chipping greens and a putting green.[17]

Local media

[edit]

Lydd has two paid-for newspapers, theRomney Marsh Herald(published by Kent Regional News and Media),[18]and theKentish Express(published by theKM Group.Free newspapers for the town include theFolkestone and Hythe Extra.There is also a fortnightly publication calledThe Lookerpublished by the owners of RMFM,[19]and an alternate publication calledThe Marsh Mailedited by Amanda Heath, however this only lasted a couple of editions. The Looker now has the largest circulation of 15,000 copies every two weeks.

Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC South EastandITV Meridian.Television signals are received from theDoverTV transmitter.[20]

The local radio station for Lydd isKMFM Shepway and White Cliffs Country.Lydd is also served by the county-wide stationsHeart,GoldandBBC Radio Kent.Cinque Ports Radio 100.2FM is the community radio station for Romney Marsh and Rye, and has been broadcasting since 7 March 2022. This replaced Shoreline FM 100.2FM which broadcast since January 2020 and is now an online service called Shoreline Easy serving Romney Marsh, Rye and Hythe.[21]

Club day

[edit]

Lydd Club Day is the annual local carnival held on the Rype – the largest on Romney Marsh,[22]held on the third Saturday of June. It was established in 1868. Apart from a brief cessation during the war years, it has taken place annually ever since.[23]The day features a funfair, boot fair in the morning, stalls and children's dressing up in the afternoon and floats in the evening. The evening ends with a firework display and the lit up funfair, as well as the annual crowning of the Queen Elect.

On the Friday evening before Lydd Club Day, there is a long-standing tradition of "Test Night" when the funfair opens, at reduced prices for the evening. In recent years, "Pirate Friday" has begun. Most Lydd residents have no real understanding of what this event is supposed to entail, other than Lydd's pub frequenters dressing in pirate outfits. The event was created in 2006 by local residents Jason James, David Usher and Ian Parrot and friends in the Royal Mail. The now annual event has proved so popular it has been adopted by every pub in Lydd. Since 2011, there has been an entrant in the evening parade from residents who have participated in Pirate Friday.

Railways

[edit]

A railway line fromDungenesstoAppledoreformerly had stations atLydd TownandLydd-on-Sea.[24][25]This operated December 1881 to 1967, when it was closed to passenger traffic although it remains in use for freight traffic. There has been discussion to reopen the line[citation needed]and the station is protected against development prejudicial to the reopening of the line from Appledore to the public through inclusion in theFolkestone and HythedistrictLocal Plan.

Two stations of theRomney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railwayare within the Lydd parish at Romney Sands and Dungeness.

Airport

[edit]

Lydd Airport,originally known as Ferryfield, and now also known as London Ashford Airport, was the first airport to be constructed in Britain after theSecond World War.[26]

Notable individuals

[edit]

David Denne,of the family of that name from Lydd, was an Englishfirst-class cricketer,Deputy Lieutenant andJustice of the Peacefor 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.[27][28]

Samuel Fisher,a noted lecturer at Lydd, who then resigned his lectureship to become Baptist and aQuaker,was a noted religious controversialist and is known especially for his bookRusticus ad Academicos: The Rusticks Alarm to the Rabbiesthat anticipated in important ways some principles of modern biblical criticism. Fisher lived in Lydd from 1632 until 1660, and died in 1665.[29]

Climate

[edit]

Climate in this area has mild differences between highs and lows, and there is adequate rainfall year-round. TheKöppen Climate Classificationsubtype for this climate is "Cfb"(Marine West Coast Climate/Oceanic climate).[30]

Climate data forLydd Airportweather station,16mamsl(ICAOcode:EGMD,WMOidentifier: 03887)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 7
(45) 		7
(45) 		9
(48) 		11
(52) 		14
(58) 		17
(63) 		19
(67) 		20
(68) 		18
(65) 		14
(58) 		10
(50) 		8
(46) 		13
(55)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 3
(38) 		3
(37) 		3
(37) 		5
(41) 		8
(46) 		11
(51) 		13
(56) 		13
(56) 		12
(53) 		8
(47) 		5
(41) 		3
(38) 		7
(45)
Averageprecipitationmm (inches) 48
(1.9) 		41
(1.6) 		46
(1.8) 		36
(1.4) 		33
(1.3) 		41
(1.6) 		46
(1.8) 		51
(2) 		53
(2.1) 		89
(3.5) 		71
(2.8) 		71
(2.8) 		620
(24.6)
Averagerelative humidity(%) 86 84 79 75 76 75 74 75 77 82 86 86 80
Averagedew point°C (°F) 4
(39) 		4
(39) 		5
(41) 		7
(45) 		9
(48) 		12
(54) 		14
(57) 		14
(57) 		13
(55) 		11
(52) 		8
(46) 		5
(41) 		9
(48)
Source 1: Weatherbase[31]
Source 2:Time and Date(dewpoints and humidity, between 2005−2015)[32]

References

[edit]
  1. ^"Ward and Town population 2011".Archived fromthe originalon 4 March 2016.Retrieved5 October2015.
  2. ^Eilert Ekwall,The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place-names,p.308.
  3. ^Alan Everitt (1985).LANDSCAPE & COMMUNITY IN ENGLAND.Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 18.ISBN9780826420411.Archivedfrom the original on 23 January 2021.Retrieved14 February2013.
  4. ^John Hines (1 September 2003).The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century.Boydell Press. p. 389.ISBN9781843830344.Retrieved14 February2013.
  5. ^"The Cinque Ports Limbs".Archived fromthe originalon 29 May 2008.Retrieved17 August2008.
  6. ^"Lydd Gaol".Prison History.Retrieved9 September2023.
  7. ^Ordnance Survey: Landranger map sheet 188Maidstone & Royal Tunbridge Wells (Sevenoaks & Tonbridge)(Map). Ordnance Survey. 2014.ISBN9780319228814.
  8. ^Joshua Levine (4 April 2011).Operation Fortitude: The True Story of the Key Spy Operation of WWII That Saved D-Day.HarperCollins UK. pp. 62–63.ISBN9780007413249.Archivedfrom the original on 23 January 2021.Retrieved14 February2013.
  9. ^"HOLDING THE WEST".asisbiz.Archivedfrom the original on 9 June 2015.Retrieved3 April2018.
  10. ^Hillier, Caroline (1980).The bulwark shore: Thanet and the Cinque ports.E. Methuen. p. 236.ISBN978-0-413-39580-1.Archivedfrom the original on 21 September 2017.Retrieved14 October2012.
  11. ^ab"Church of All Saints, Lydd".British Listed Buildings.Archivedfrom the original on 3 September 2014.Retrieved14 October2012.
  12. ^Wilson, David Mackenzie (January 1976).The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England.Routledge. p. 166.ISBN9780416150902.
  13. ^"Lydd Town FC".Lydd Town Football Club.Archivedfrom the original on 10 January 2016.Retrieved26 August2015.
  14. ^"Lydd United FC".clubwebsite.Archivedfrom the original on 23 September 2015.Retrieved26 August2015.
  15. ^"Lydd Kart Circuit".Lydd Kart.Archivedfrom the original on 15 September 2015.Retrieved26 August2015.
  16. ^"Lydd CC".Lydd Play Cricket.Archivedfrom the original on 5 March 2016.Retrieved26 August2015.
  17. ^"Lydd Golf Club and Driving Range".Lydd Golf Club.Archivedfrom the original on 5 September 2015.Retrieved26 August2015.
  18. ^"Romney Marsh Herald"./journalisted. Archived fromthe originalon 4 April 2018.Retrieved3 April2018.
  19. ^"The Looker".thelooker.co.uk.Archivedfrom the original on 4 April 2018.Retrieved3 April2018.
  20. ^"Full Freeview on the Dover (Kent, England) transmitter".UK Free TV.1 May 2004.Retrieved28 October2023.
  21. ^static.ofcom.org.uk/static/radiolicensing/html/radio-stations/community/cr103150ba1shorelinefm.htm
  22. ^"Lydd Club Day 2011".Archived fromthe originalon 21 June 2011.Retrieved1 April2013.
  23. ^"Club Day to return, say organisers".Folkestone Herald.Archived fromthe originalon 5 May 2013.Retrieved28 September2015.
  24. ^Dawson, Geoffrey,ed. (3 July 1937). "Faster S.R. Trains To West Of England".The Times.No. 47727. p. 11.ISSN0140-0460.
  25. ^Body, Geoffrey (1989).Railways of the Southern Region.Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, England: P. Stephens. p. 126.ISBN185260297X.
  26. ^"London Ashford Airport".Archivedfrom the original on 19 March 2014.Retrieved17 August2008.
  27. ^"Players and Officials – David Denne".Cricinfo.Retrieved17 August2008.[permanent dead link]
  28. ^Bellinger, Terreena."MONUMENT AND TRANSCRIPTION LIST: LYDD CHURCH, 2009"(PDF).rmrt.org.uk.Archived(PDF)from the original on 4 April 2018.Retrieved3 April2018.
  29. ^Wikisource:Fisher, Samuel (1605–1665) (DNB00)
  30. ^"Lydd, England Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)".Weatherbase.Archivedfrom the original on 1 April 2016.Retrieved28 September2015.
  31. ^"Weatherbase".Weatherbase. 2013.Archivedfrom the original on 14 April 2015.Retrieved9 July2013.
  32. ^"Climate & Weather Averages at Lydd Airport weather station".Time and Date.Retrieved6 February2022.
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