There was a time when even Tenterden, now more than ten miles from the sea, was by way of being in touch with it, through the little port of Smallhythe, whose name is sometimes seen spelled on maps “Small Hithe.” This remote little place, some two miles south of Tenterden, on a by-road, stands strangely at a passage into the so-called “Isle of Oxney,” which nowadays presents the appearance of an inland island, so to speak. Looking at a map, no one would at the first glance suspect Oxney of being an isle, but close inspection discovers the fact that it is indeed surrounded by the Rother and its tributaries, and a canal. In olden times, when the Rother was a broad estuary, Oxney was an isle in very sooth, and it was possible for the not very large vessels of those ages to be navigated to Smallhythe. In the reign of Edward the Third, according to tradition, the harbour dues were greater than those of Liverpool at the same time; and the sea is recorded to have flowed to its quays certainly so late as 1508. “Smallhead,” as the country people call it, is nowadays little like a port. Its street is blocked by a toll-gate leading to a ferry across the narrow stream. Here the pedestrian is mulcted of one farthing. If he have a cycle, his total expenditure is one halfpenny. Toll for a horse and cart is 6_d._; for a traction-engine with one truck attached, 10_d._; for a horse, mule, or ass, 1_d_.; bullock, cow, calf, or pig, ½_d_.; and sheep, 4_d_. per score. “We make everything pay,” says the gatekeeper, “’cept a dog.” The gate is private property, and was purchased some years ago for £600. The tolls then yielded over £1 a week; but the income has greatly fallen since the other ferries into the isle were freed. Smallhythe has the unusual privilege of electing its own vicar, instead of running the risk--sometimes the very real risk--of having to receive a _persona non grata_ foisted upon the parish by a patron not in touch with the needs of the place. The electors are the householders and occupiers of land in the parish. This privilege arose out of the establishment of the church in 1509. Until then, the nearest was Tenterden church, but Warham, the then Archbishop of Canterbury, was induced to license one here because of the complaints made by the inhabitants of the bad state of the roads. [Illustration: SMALLHYTHE CHURCH.] The election takes place always on a Sunday, and the voting is given in the church-vestry. Should an election not be held within six months of the living becoming vacant, the privilege lapses and the presentation becomes the property of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The last election was held May 7th, 1899, when the Rev. C. E. Pizey was chosen, by a majority of one, to succeed his father, deceased. He afterwards resigned, and the unsuccessful candidate, Mr. Raven, was appointed in his stead. [Illustration: SMALLHYTHE.]