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HOME | St Mary's Bay | Dymchurch | Hythe | New Romney | Dungeness
Other Villages | Romney Marsh | Romney Hythe & Dymchurch Railway St Mary's Bay Please send us any photos or other memories you have of St Mary's Bay. The village upon which this site is centred is located between New Romney and Dymchurch on the bay of the same name.
Jefferstone Lane, from a 1960s postcard There were three notable features of this village, two of which are no longer present: the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway station, the Holiday Camp (or School Journey Centre) and the Sands Holiday Motel. This page contains information on the village itself. Other pages in this section relate to the Motel and the Holiday Camp. The village grew up in the early 20th century and for a time was known as Jesson. The south-easterly extent is bounded by Dymchurch Road and the sea, and the north-westerly by the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, although there is now further development on the other side of the railway. Jefferstone Lane runs from the Dymchurch Road to the station, and then on to St Mary in the Marsh. Along Jefferstone lane were situated a small church, a number of shops and the local public house, the Bailiff's Sergeant. This pub was named after the company entrusted by Henry III by charter to take responsibility for the drainage and embankments in Romney Marsh. The church, pub and shops remain much the same to this day.
Jefferstone Lane, 1999. The shops, with the distinctive angled front, can be seen behind the hedges, and in the photo below (stills from video clip)
In times gone by, the southern side of Jefferstone Lane was bounded by St Mary's Bay Holiday Camp (School Journey Centre), which was demolished in the 1980s and is now a housing estate. There is a separate page for the Holiday Camp. There was also a wonderful corner shop on the southern corner of Jefferstone Lane and the Dymchurch Road, which sold all sorts of beach entertainments from buckets and spades, to beach balls, to kites, fishing lines etc. I remember that this shop was approached down a number of steps, which showed just how much below sea level the marsh actually was. The shop was demolished around the same time as the camp. Between Dymchurch Road and the sea, opposite the Holiday Camp, was Sands Holiday Motel, built in the early 70s and where many families spent their summer holidays throughout the 70s and 80s. As with the Holiday Camp, there is a separate page for the Motel.
Aerial photograph (1999) showing the location of the Motel, Holiday Camp and RHDR The aerial photograph above shows the size of the Holiday Camp site. It extended from Jefferstone Lane in the northeast, to New Sewer in the south, and from the RHDR line in the northwest to the Dymchurch Road in the southeast. Further inland is the Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway station, now recently renamed "St Mary's Bay" having spend much of the 1980s and 1990s as "Jefferstone Lane". Much earlier, it was simply "Holiday Camp". It was one of the original stations on the line when it first opened in the late 1920s.
Extract from Ordnance Survey Map of 1960 Much of the village northeast of Jefferstone Lane has remained the same since this map was drawn, although the dwellings have become more densely packed since then. The map shows the location of the original hotel that was demolished in the early 70s to make way for Sands Holiday Motel. Memories of St Mary's Bay Here are some memories of St Mary's Bay sent in by kind readers. Stories such as these and photographs of the area are always welcome and gratefully received! Julie writes of her memories in the 1970s:
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