Lydden Valley Research Group: Timeline

Note: - The events enclosed in boxes occurred outside the Lydden Valley, but are likely to have been significant to the area. References in brackets refer to the sources listed at the end of the timeline. This is not a comprehensive list; more dates will be added as they are collated. To print select [Print friendly version] which is above on the main web page.

c. 400,000 to c. 125,000 BP Lower - Middle Palaeolithic
Acheulian hand-axes from the Finglesham area are from this period.

200,000 - 100,000 BP Lower-Middle Palaeolithic
Palaeolithic flint tools using Levallois, or prepared core technology have been found at West Street near Finglesham. Flint knappers prepared a flint core in advance, and were then able to strike off a flake of pre-determined shape. Probably associated with early Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis). (LVRG, 2006, 18)

140,000 BP Middle Palaeolithic
Relict coastal cliff along seaward side of Deal Sandwich road. (LVRG, 2006, 8)

12,000 BP Upper Palaeolithic
A rapid rise in sea-level caused by the decay of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet, and probably accentuated by thermal expansion of ocean waters and isostatic uplift.

6,300 - 6,000 BC Mesolithic
It is suggested that from 6,300 - 6,000 BC sea-levels rose rapidly from –25m below present ordnance datum (OD) to –15m below OD. By 4,000 BC (the early Neolithic) sea-levels had risen to –6m below OD. (Devoy, 1980 fig. 3) (Devoy, 1982)

4,600 BC Mesolithic
Flint tools and waste from Finglesham. (Halliwell, 1983, 29-32)

4,400 BC Early Neolithic
A thin layer of peat deposited in the Brookland area of Lydden Valley. (LVRG, 2006, 14)

3,000 - 1,200 BC Late Neolithic – late Bronze Age
Prehistoric land surface in Lydden Valley. (LVRG, 2006, 19)

2,900 - 400 BC Early Bronze Age – early Iron Age
A thick layer of peat deposited in the Brookland area of Lydden Valley. (LVRG 2006, 14)

1,550 BC Middle Bronze Age
Construction of Dover Bronze Age Boat. (Clark, 2003, 66)

1,260-1360 BC Middle Bronze Age
Cooking hearth in the Hacklinge marshes. (LVRG 2006, 19)

c. 850 - 650 BC Late Bronze Age to early Iron Age transition
One pit in the face of an old chalk pit at Hacklinge Holes, Worth, (TR 3376 5504) produced a large amount of pottery, a loomweight, an amber bead and several large briquetage fragments. (Parfitt 1983, 290)

c. AD 50-225 Roman
Roman activity on sand spit at Dickson’s Corner. (Parfitt, 2000)

c. AD 100 Roman
High tide at Dover was around 1.22m above OD, compared with today when it can rise to 3.63m above OD. (Parfitt, 2000, 143)

2nd and 3rd centuries Roman
Roman Villa at Hull Place, Sholden. (LVRG 2006, 117-8)

c. AD 271 Roman
Coin hoard dating from the time of Valerian (AD 254-260) and Gallienus to the time of Tetricus (AD 267-272) found opposite Blackhorse Wall. (Laker, 1921, 13)

851
Viking raiders, referred to in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as 'a great heathen force', overwinter on Thanet. Vikings is a general term for the invaders from of Denmark, Sweden and Norway, although the raiders on southern England were predominately Danes. Canterbury was attacked, but English victorious over the Vikings in a sea battle which took place in Sandwich harbour. This is said to have been the first known English naval battle. (Lawson, 2004, 32)

865
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle states 'the heathen force stayed in Thanet, and accepted peace from the Kentish; the Kentish promised them money for the truce. Beside the promise of money, the army stole up by night and ravaged all eastern Kent'.

980
Thanet plundered 'by a force in ships from the north'. (Anglo-Saxon Chronicle)

1006
Swein's Danish army lands at Sandwich and marches across to the Isle of Wight. (Lawson, 2004, 32)

1009
Two Danish fleets sailed into Sandwich Haven. Thanet was plundered, including Minster Abbey. After a campaign of shipbuilding, the greatest English fleet ever seen assembled at Sandwich, but nothing came of it. Later in the campaign the Danes sacked Canterbury (1011) and Archbishop Alphege taken hostage, he was eventually murdered in 1012. (Lawson, 2004, 32) (Bentwich, 1980, 12-13)

c. 1175
c. 1175 - 1200 expansion of the town and port of Stonar (Stonar's first genuine documentary reference is 1090) (Macpherson-Grant, 1991, 46)

1216
May 18th English fleet destroyed by a great storm at Dover, only a few vessels reached the safety of Sandwich. Two days later Louis of France lands at Stonar and the French fleet sail into Pegwell Bay. King John positioned his Flemish mercenaries along the coast but he lost face and fled to Dover, and the French sacked Sandwich. (Gardiner, 1954, 16)

1217
24 August 'The Battle of Sandwich' between the English and French fleets. (Gardiner, 1954, 16-18)

1236
Violent storms heralded extreme weather conditions which lasted for 60 years. Very heavy rain January to March, Westminster Palace flooded. In November a high (storm-surge) tide killed many people and livestock along the coast from Woolwich around to Norfolk.

1250
Major breach and marine inundation of the Romney Marsh. Winchelsea suffered badly with 300 houses and a number of churches destroyed in a storm on the 1 October 1250.

1251
Matthew Paris the St. Albans monk in the 13th century records ‘At the time of the Equinox the sea overflowed its usual bonds, causing no small injury in the provinces of England near the coast, and the shore was inundated six feet higher than it ever had before ...’

1252
Violent storm on 15 January recorded in Romney Marsh, further flooding in 1253 and 1258.

1271
Sea defences at Old Winchelsea were destroyed by a storm and the church was carried away.

1287
Violent storms in February 1287 which destroyed much of New Romney and altered the course of the River Rother. (Wilson & Linklater, 2003, 41)

1288
At Romney Marsh shingle barrier lost and further flooding covered much of the reclaimed land.

1298
Unidentified ship wrecked near Sandwich, her owner, William Martyn, appealed to the king Edward I on 7 June 1298, informing him that whilst returning from Flanders laden with armour and other goods, his ship had been cast away and plundered. (Larn, 1977, 31)

1365
A violent storm destroyed a large part of the town and port of Stonar. (Bentwich, 1980, 11)

1385
The town and port of Stonar destroyed by fire. (Macpherson-Grant, 1991, 48)

1483
Leland, the chronicler of Henry VIII’s reign, records a Spanish ship ‘The Caryke, that was sonke in the Haven in Pope Paulus time, dide much hurt to the haven [Sandwich], and gather a grat banke there’. (Larn, 1977, 31)

1540
Sandown Castle completed in October. All three Tudor castles - Sandown, Deal and Walmer - were built in eighteen months (Holyoake, 2001, 40)

1570
October 1570 a great tide washed away some of the walls on Romney Marsh.

1578
There was 'a most fierce and terrible earthquake'. At five in the evening on 6 April. Ships on the sea felt it. A lesser shock was felt at nine on the same evening, and on 2 May at two in the morning, almost as severe as the first. (Lewis, 1911, 167-168)

1623
The ship Ann Lyon wrecked 28 November. Thomas Fulnetby, sergeant of the Admiralty of the Cinque Ports, took possession of £9,000 in coin salvaged from the wreck, which he placed in Deal Castle for safe keeping. The remainder was looted by the inhabitants of Deal and Sandwich. The Lord Warden, Lord Zouch received £1,000 for merely returning a quantity of or 'Brazil wood' (mahogany) to the owners and further £2,000 for sugar, cinnamon and other goods. (Larn, 1977, 41)

1624
Gales on 3/4 October, described as 'most terrible, the like of which was never seen'. (Larn 1977, 42)

1639
Two ships onshore between Sandown and Shellness. These were some of at least 25 Spanish ships lost in a sea battle which took place in the Downs on 21 October 1639, between the Dutch, commanded by Maarten Harpertszoon Tromp (1598-1653) and the Spanish, commanded by Admiral Antonio Oquendo. (Larn, 1977, 44)

1641
'The Sandhills and forty-six acres known as French Marshes were ... given by Lady Boys to the Hospital'. (Behrens, 1926, 64)

1648 Civil War
Parliamentarian forces lay seige to the Royalists in the Downs Castles (Walmer, Deal and Sandown). On 10 August, there was a skirmish at Halfway house and eight Royalists were killed. A more substantial battle on 14 August defeated the Royalists and about 200 of their number were killed. Sandown was the last castle to surrender, on 5 September. (Abell 1901, 229)

1692
On 9 September at about two o'clock in the afternoon an earthquake occurred which was felt all along the south coast. (Laker, 1921, 236)

1713
'A duel was fought upon the Sandhills by two naval officers from a frigate named the Gloucester in the Downs, on the 13th December, 1713. The results were fatal, Lieutenant Wye shot Captain Carlton through the head upon the first fire. He then made his escape from the spot whilst the seconds were ministering to Captain Carlton who died almost immediately. The lieutenant was, however, apprehended in Middle Street and on his trial by court martial the following day was convicted of manslaughter, for which crime he suffered the usual punishment of being branded upon the hand'. (Chapman 1890, 66-67)

1743
Eight shipwrecks occurred along the coast between Sandown Castle and Shellness. Seven of them were due to the gales on 24/25 February. (Larn 1977)

1776
'The snow began to fall on Friday, 12th of January, and continued descending in blinding, whirling, volumes, without one moment's intermission till the following Monday night. Upon the plain of the Sandhills the snow lay fully four feet deep, but in many places it drifted into banks of eighteen or twenty feet'. (Chapman 1890, 84)

1782
On 25 August while on the way from Deal to Sandwich, along the Downs Road, Mary Bax was murdered by a Swedish sailor Martin Lash, who was later executed. The site of the crime is marked by Mary Bax's Stone. (LVRG, 2006, 79)

1786
The sea broke through the outer wall of the moat at Sandown, rendering the castle 'barely habitable' and leaving behind a large accumulation of shingle. (Elvin, 1890, 226)

1800
In the Downs the ship the Bell parted from her cables on 24 January by a gale from the south-west. It went ashore near the No 2 Battery but was eventually refloated and taken to Ramsgate. (Larn, 1977, 69)

The ship William & John parted from her cables on 24 January by a gale from the south-west. Both the main and mizzen masts were cut down in an attempt to save the ship, but it went to pieces in the shallows on Sandwich Flats. Some 4,000 bags of ship’s biscuit and 22,000 wooden staves floated out to be fought over on the beach by the local wreckers. (Larn, 1977, 67, 69)

1803 Napoleonic Wars
The war with France was renewed in May 1803 and in July Francis (Frank) Austen (brother of the novelist Jane Austen) was employed to raise a body of ‘Sea Fencibles’ (a naval militia) from among the fishermen to protect the coastline in the event of an invasion. Captain Austen was responsible for the North Foreland Fencibles allotted the district between the North Foreland and Sandown. (Tomalin, 1997, 194) (Holyoake, 1982, 301-308)

1807
On 30 September about 11 o'clock at night an unusually high tide made two breaches: south of the first Battery and on the south side of Sandown Castle. It filled the Sandhills and covered the marshes as far at Cottington Alders and Worth as well as flooding Deal. (Laker, 1921, 331)

1858
The Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram on 10 March reports: 'The violence of the waves has knocked down from 50 to 60 feet of solid breast work at No. 1 Battery.'

1859
SANDOWN CASTLE ON FIRE: '...some plumbers who were employed in repairing the leads on the ramparts, had lit the necessary fire and afterwards left it without any person to watch. Fortunately the damage is not extensive.' Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram 6 July.

1860
'About sixty of the Royal Artillery marched into Deal on Monday morning last, for the purpose of mounting Armstrong Guns at Sandown castle. The necessary gear was brought in upon a waggon of not sufficiently strength to sustain the weight; the axle-tree, consequently gave way just after entering the town, and blocked up the road for some time.' Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram 18 January.

Fatal Accident at No. 1 Battery, during Royal Artillery practice. 'The fragments of a shell passed over No. 1 Battery which is occupied by the coastguard, and one fragment unfortunately struck a man (John Oxford) on duty on the north side of the Battery, thereby causing his death. The inquest was heard at the Chequers.' The Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram 6 June 1860.

1862
The Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram on 27 December reports: 'Sandown Castle has suffered severely, a new strongly built sea-wall being washed down, thus giving the sea a clear passage to the moat, which has been filled with water and rendered the Castle unfit for habitation'. . . The earth work raised as a barrier to protect the sand-Hills from the sea, has had a considerable breach made in it, submerging the Hills and laying all the marsh lands as far as Red House Wall to the north and Word to the west under water. . . . The wall to the eastward of No. 1 Battery is washed down, and the lower rooms inundated. This is also abandoned for the present as a resident station.'

1863
The Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram on 25 July reports that demolition had started on Sandown Castle.

1866
On 27 January 1866 the Deal Walmer and Sandwich Telegram announces: On Friday 2 February an auction on the beach near No.2 Battery of the Russian brigantine Yesterat.

GUN ACCIDENT - On Wednesday evening last rather an alarming accident occurred to Mr. William Smith, landlord of the 'Fishing Boat, Middle Street who went out for an evening's shooting in the marshes. After wounding a jackdaw that fell into a ditch which he endeavoured to recover, one of the barrels of his gun discharged through the top of his right arm.

On Monday last a body was found floating in the sea near No. 1 Battery, and on its being brought on shore it was first thought that it was one of the unfortunate crew of the galley-punt Hope, but a closer investigation led to the belief that the deceased was a smackman. The body was subsequently interred at the parish churchyard, Sholden.

The winter of 1871 was particularly stormy. On 16 January the lugger Reform was launched into a gale in response to distress signal but the launch went disastrously wrong and the Reform smashed into the pier with the loss of eight of the crew of eleven. The three survivors were swept up the coast clinging to some of the wreckage. They were eventually saved and brought ashore north of Sandown Castle and taken to the Chequers Inn.

1873
Pegwell Bay Reclamation and Sandwich Haven Improvement Act, 1873. 'An Act for the Cultivation and Improvement of certain Waste Lands in Pegwell Bay and Sandwich Flats, and the Improvement of Sandwich Haven, in the county of Kent. 5th August 1873.' It doesn't seem as if this was implemented because further Acts to extend the time limit were made on 1 June 1875 and 27 May 1878.

1877
There were gales from 11 November, culminating in the great storm on the night of 24 November.

1887
Royal St George's Golf Links was established by Dr Laidlaw Purves, who leased land from the Earl of Guilford. The clubhouse was based at the old Downs Farm, and it was awarded the royal accolade in 1902.

1892
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner John Ball.

The Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club was formed by Major General J.H. Graham. It achieved royal patronage in 1910.

1894
On 21-22 February the remains of Sandown Castle was demolished by the Royal Engineers, using explosive charges; two people were slightly injured.

Royal St George's becomes the first non-Scottish club to host the British Open Golf Championship. John Henry Taylor, known as 'JH', won his first of five British Opens.

1896
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Freddie Tait.

1899
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Harry Vardon.

1900
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Harold Hilton.

1902
The Ladies' British Amateur Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, winner May Hezlet.

1904
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Jack White.

1908
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner E. A. Lassen.

1909
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, winner John H. Taylor.

1911
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Harry Vardon.

1912
English Ladies Championship held at Prince's Golf Club, winner Miss M. Gardner.

1914
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner J. L. C. Jenkins.

1920
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, the first to be played after World War One, the winner George Duncan.

1922
Sea wall breached, Royal Cinque Ports Golf Links flooded. (LVRG, 2006, 91)

The legendary Joyce Wethered (later Lady Heathcote-Amory) won the Ladies’ Amateur British title at Prince's Golf Links.

1923
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Links, winner Roger Wethered.

1928
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Walter Hagen.

1929
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Cyril Tolley.

1932
British Open Golf Championship held at Prince's Golf Club, winner America's Gene Sarazen.

1934
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Britain's Henry Cotton.

1937
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Robert Sweeny.

British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Reg A. Whitcombe.

1948
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner American Frank Stranahan.

British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner South Africa's 'Bobby' Locke.

1952
Sandwich Bay became one of the first independent bird ringing stations (see also 1962).

1953
Violent storms in January, part of the Lydden Valley inundated by the sea. (LVRG), 2006, 90

1956
The Ladies' Curtis Cup held at Princes's Golf Club, winner Great Britain and Ireland.

1959
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Deane Beman.

1962
Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory achieved official status (see also 1952).

1964
The Ladies' British Amateur Championship held at Princes's Golf Club, winner America's Carol Sorenson.

1972
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Trevor Homer.

1978
Violent storms in January, part of the Lydden Valley inundated by the sea. The inner sea-wall was breached between Dickson’s Corner and Lyddcourt Stile. (Parfitt, 2000, 107)

1981
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner America's Bill Rogers.

1982
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Links, winner Martin Thompson.

1985
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Alexander 'Sandy' Lyle.

1988
The Ladies' British Amateur Championship held at Royal Cinque Ports Golf Club, winner Joanne Furby.

1993
Violent storms, part of the Lydden Valley inundated by the sea. Prince’s Golf Club Links flooded. (LVRG, 93)

British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Australia's Greg Norman from Queensland.

2003
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner American Ben Curtis.

2006
The Amateur Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Frenchman Julien Guerrier.

2011
British Open Golf Championship held at Royal St George's, winner Darren Clarke with a five under par.

SOURCES:

Abell, 1901, Henry Francis, Kent and the Great Civil War
Behrens, Lilian Boys, 1926, Under Thirty-Seven Kings, Legends of Kent and Records of the Family of Boys. (London, Saint Catherine Press)
Bentwich Helen C, 1980, History of Sandwich, 3rd edition
Chapman Henry Stephen, 1890, Deal: Past and Present. (London, Reeves and Turner)
Clark Peter, 2003, 'The story of the ‘Dover Bronze Age Boat', Canterbury’s Archaeology 25th Annual Report 2000-2001, 66-70
Devoy R.J.N. 1980 'Post-glacial Environmental Change and Man in the Thames Estuary: A Synopsis.' In F.H. Thompson (ed.), Archaeology and Coastal Change 134-148. (London: Society of Antiquaries)
Devoy R.J.N. 1982, ,Analysis of the geological evidence for Holocene sea-level movements in southeast England', Proc. Geol. Ass. 93, 65-90.
Elvin Charles R. S. 1890, Records of Walmer, (London, Henry Gray).
Gardiner, D. 1954, Historic haven: The story of Sandwich (Pilgrim Press)
Halliwell, Geoffrey and Parfitt, Keith, 1983, 'A Mesolithic Site at Finglesham’, Kent, Kent Archaeological Review No. 72, 29-32.
Hill B.J.W. and Peter Hill, 1987, A History of Royal St. George's Golf Course, (Sheffield, Peter Hill).
Holyoake Gregory, 1982, Jane in Kent Part 1, Bygone Kent Vol 3 No 5, 301-308.
Holyoake Gregory, 2001, Deal Sad Smuggling Town, (Seaford, S B Publications).
Jones R.L. 1988, 'The impact of early man on coastal plant communities in the British Isles.' In Jones M. (ed.) Archaeology and the Flora of the British Isles (Oxford University Committee for Archaeology).
Laker John, 1921, History of Deal (Deal, T.F. Pain & Sons) 2nd Edition.
Larn Richard 1977, Goodwin Sands Shipwrecks (Newton Abbot, David & Charles).
Lawson, Terence and Killingray, David, 2004, An Historical Atlas of Kent (Chichester, Phillimore).
Lewis, Arthur D. 1911, The Kent Coast (London, T. Fisher Unwin).
LVRG: Lydden Valley Research Group, 2006, The Geology, Archaeology and History of the Lydden Valley and Sandwich Bay.
Macpherson-Grant, Nigel, 1991, 'Excavations at Stonar, near Sandwich', Canterbury’s Archaeology 14th Annual Report 1989-1990, 46-48.
Parfitt Keith, 2000, 'A Roman occupation site at Dickson’s Corner, Worth', Archaeologia Cantiana cxx, 107-148.
Tomalin Claire, 1997, Jane Austen a Life, 194.
Wilson John and Linklater Andrew, 2003, 'Church Road, New Romney', Canterbury’s Archaeology 26th Annual Report 2001-2002, 41-43.

LYDDEN VALLEY TIMELINE

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