Old sheep pen
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 there were some 200,000 sheep on the Marsh, but during hostilities many sheep were sent away to the hill farmers in Yorkshire and the numbers of sheep on the marshes were halved. Any German invasion of Britain would have to involve the landing of troops and equipment somewhere on the coast, and one of the most vulnerable areas was Romney Marsh, the planned invasion site of Operation Sea Lion. Portions of the Romney Marsh were flooded and there were plans to flood more of the Marsh if the invasion were to materialise.
The numbers of sheep on the Marsh never recovered to pre-war levels, land previously used for grazing sheep now being given over to arable farming, a trend that started during the war as the sheep were removed.
Old sheep pen
At the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 there were some 200,000 sheep on the Marsh, but during hostilities many sheep were sent away to the hill farmers in Yorkshire and the numbers of sheep on the marshes were halved. Any German invasion of Britain would have to involve the landing of troops and equipment somewhere on the coast, and one of the most vulnerable areas was Romney Marsh, the planned invasion site of Operation Sea Lion. Portions of the Romney Marsh were flooded and there were plans to flood more of the Marsh if the invasion were to materialise.
The numbers of sheep on the Marsh never recovered to pre-war levels, land previously used for grazing sheep now being given over to arable farming, a trend that started during the war as the sheep were removed.