Lydd, Kent

Historical Description

Lydd, a small town, a municipal borough, and a parish in Kent. The town stands near the coast, 3½ miles SW by S of New Romney, 4 NW of Dungeness, and 72 from London by road. It has a station on the S.E.R., 70 miles from London, and a post, money order, and telegraph office. Lydd is a member of Romney cinque port, and a borough by prescription; is governed by a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors, and is a seat of petty sessions. The old market-house has been converted into a handsome town-hall. Acreage of parish, 12,015, of which 1040 are water; population, 2061. The land is of various character, a great portion appears to be of more recent formation than the adjacent marshes, and parts, called the Rype and Midrips, run out in narrow tongues, yet reaches of the beach are suffering inroads by the sea, and are cut by it into pits or water-holes. A long tract, called the Holmstone, was once covered with sea-holly, locally termed holm, and of an unusual size. A heap of stones at Stone End, on the shore to the E of the town,vas long traditionally regarded as the tomb of St Crispin and St Crispianus, who were alleged to have been shipwrecked and buried here. Dungeness, with coastguard and lifeboat stations and lighthouse, is in the parish. During the greater part of the year there is a large military camp stationed here for gunnery and rifle practice, and a military hospital was erected in 1894. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; net value, £730 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church, dedicated to All Saints, is a large and handsome building of the Later English style, dating from the early part of the 13th century, and consists of nave, chancel, and a beautiful tower. An interesting pictorial record of the past has been discovereda relic of painted glass high up in the E window-of a very beautiful head, probably of the boy-bishop which is often mentioned in the town records. The face is that of a boy of about twelve years of age, with long curly hair. He is called in these records Bishop of St Nicholas, and is said to have annually come over on St Nicholas Day from New Romney, and " fee'd and feted" at the expense of the corporation. The tower, which is of more recent date than the main building, having been erected between 1425 and 1450, was heightened in 1510 to 132 feet, at the expense, it is supposed, of Cardinal Wolsey, who held the benefice in right of the Abbey of Tintem. The church contains an altar-tomb to Sir W. Meynell of the time of Edward III., and a number of brasses, and was given by one of the De Clares to Tintem Abbey. It was thoroughly restored in 1887. A Wesleyan chapel was erected in 1886. Baptist and Roman Catholic chapels were erected in 1892.

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Lydd from the following:

• Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Lydd (All Saints))

Maps

Online maps of Lydd are available from a number of sites:

• Bing (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• Google Streetview.
• National Library of Scotland. (Old maps)
• OpenStreetMap.
• old-maps.co.uk (Old Ordnance Survey maps to buy).
• Streetmap.co.uk (Current Ordnance Survey maps).
• A Vision of Britain through Time. (Old maps)

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

• Kent & Sussex Courier
• Whitstable Times and Herne Bay Herald
• Dover Express
• Kentish Gazette
• Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald
• Kentish Chronicle
• Maidstone Telegraph

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.