HYTHE, a market town and watering-place, one of the Cinque Ports, and a municipal borough of Kent, England, 67 m. S.E. by E. of London on a branch of the S.R. Pop. (1931) It is situated near the eastern extremity of Romney marsh, about half a mile from the sea, and consists principally of one long street running parallel with the shore. On the slope of the hill above the town stands the church of St. Leonard, partly Late Norman, with an Early English chancel. The tower was rebuilt about 175o. In a vault under the ambulatory have been found many skulls and bones transferred from the churchyard from time to time about the 14th and i 5th centuries. Lionel Lukin (1742-1834), inventor of the life-boat, is buried in the churchyard. Hythe possesses a guildhall founded in 1794 and two hospitals, that of St. Bartholo mew founded by Haimo, bishop of Rochester in 1336, and that of St. John (rebuilt in 1802 ), still older, founded originally for the reception of lepers.
Lympne, now 3 m. inland, is thought to have been the original harbour which gave Hythe a place among the Cinque Ports. The sea-sand lying on the surface shows the course of the ancient estuary. Here are remains of a Roman fortress, and of the Portus Lemanis. Large portions of the fortress walls are standing. At the south-west corner is one of the circular towers which occurred along the line of wall. The site is now occupied by the old castel lated mansion of Studfall castle, formerly a residence of the archdeacons of Canterbury. The church at Lympne is Early English, and has a Norman tower built by Archbishop Lanfranc, with some Roman material in the walls. A short distance east is Shipway or Shepway Cross, where some of the great assemblies relating to the Cinque Ports were held. A mile north from Hythe is Saltwood castle, of ancient origin, but rebuilt in the time of Richard II. The castle was granted to the see of Canterbury in 1026, and here the murder of Thomas a Becket is said to have been concerted. It remained a residence of the archbishops until the time of Henry VIII. It was restored as a residence in 1882. About 2 m. N.W. of Saltwood are remains of the fortified 14th century manor-house of Westenhanger, quadrangular and sur rounded by a moat, with three of the nine towers (alternately square and round) by which the walls were defended remaining.
Hythe (Heda, Heya, Hethe, Hithe, i.e., landing-place), a port in Saxon times, was granted by a Saxon thegn to Christ Church, Canterbury. In the Domesday Survey the borough is entered among the archbishop's lands as appurtenant to his manor of Saltwood, and the bailiff of the town was appointed by the arch bishop. Hythe was evidently a Cinque Port before the Conquest, as King John in 1205 confirmed the liberties which the townsmen had under Edward the Confessor. The liberties of the Cinque Ports were confirmed in Magna Carta and later by Edward I. in a general charter, which was confirmed, often with additions, by subsequent kings down to James II. John's charter to Hythe was confirmed by the Lancastrian kings. These charters were granted to the Cinque Ports in return for the 57 ships which they supplied for the royal service, of which five were contributed by Hythe. The ports were first represented in the parliament of 1365, to which they each sent four members.
Hythe was governed by 12 jurats until 1574, when it was in corporated by Elizabeth under the title of the mayor, jurats and commonalty of Hythe; a fair for the sale of fish, etc., was also granted, to be held on the feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. With the silting up of the harbour Hythe lost its old importance.