The small seaside resort and town of Hythe, in the District of Shepway, (derived from sheep-way, since shepherds drove their flocks across Romney Marsh and the Downs) is one of the five original Cinque Ports on the south coast of Kent, in England. Although it is beside a broad bay on the English Channel, four miles to the west of Folkestone, silting of the coast has removed any sign of its port and harbour.

 

Long since having become isolated from the sea by the silting of its estuary by the accumulation of shingle, Hythe was once geographically the central Cinque Port, between the ports of Hastings and New-Romney to the west with Dover and Sandwich to the east.

According to Hasted, a French fleet approached Hythe in 1293 and succeeded in landing up to 200 men, but "the townsmen came upon them and slew every one of them: upon which the rest of the fleet hoisted sail and made no further attempt".

The town has had a succession of disasters, including a fire that destroyed about 100 houses. In 1348 the black death afflicted the port, and in 1400 the plague further reduced the town's population.