ROMNEY (OLD), a parish partly in the cinqueport
liberty of NEW-ROMNEY, and partly in the liberty
of ROMNEY-MARSH, lathe of SHEFWAY, county of KENT,
1 mile (W. by N.) from New Romney, containing 153
inhabitants. The living is a rectory, in the peculiar
jurisdiction and patronage of the Archbishop of Canterbury,
rated in the king's books at £15. 19. 2. The
church is dedicated to St. Clement. This town had a
good and much-frequented haven prior to the Conquest j
but in the reign of Edward III. it sustained considerable
damage from violent tempests, and its harbour
being choked up and obstructed, and the river Rye
having changed its course, it was superseded in its
maritime privileges and prosperity by New Romney.
An hospital for lepers, founded here by Adam de Cherring,
and dedicated to St. Stephen and St. Thomas a
Becket, was, in the fourteenth century, converted into
a chantry, and in 1481 became annexed to the college
of St. Mary Magdalene, in Oxford.