Ancient Lympne
30 lines✦
hurches, Castles and Other Buildings Go Back Beyond the DarkAges—Lympne, Quaint and Ancient, Deeply Interests theStranger—It comes Down to us from Centuries Before the DarkAges. been known as a favorite wateringplace. Lympne, in years gone by, wason an estuary that in recent years hasbecome filled in so that today it isthree miles inland and is thought to3 have been the original harbor whichgave Hythe a place among the Cinque ports. Thecourse of the ancient estuary may be distinctly tracedfrom here along the road to Hythe, the sea sand lyingon the surface and coloring the soil. Here are the remainsof a Roman fortress, and excavations have brought tolight many remains of the Roman Portus Lemanis.Large portions of the fortress walls are standing. At thesouthwest corner is one of the circular towers whichoccurred along the line of the wall. The site is nowoccupied by the fine old castellated mansion, Studfallcastle, formerly a residence of the archdeacons ofCanterbury. The name denotes a fallen place, and isinfrequently thus applied to ancient remains. Thechurch at Lympne is Early English, with a Normantower built by Archbishop Lanfranc, and Roman ma-terial may be traced in the walls. A short distance eastis Shipway or Shepway Cross, where some of the great— 129 — Worup Wark assemblies relating to the Cinque ports were held.ArlIts mile north from “Hythe is Saltwood castle, of _
✦