Hythe, a parliamentary and municipal borough and market-town of Kent, 5 miles WSW. of Folkestone, and 67 SE. by E. of London by rail, is one of the Cinque Ports, although Lympne or Lymm (anc. Portus Lemmas of the Romans), now 3 miles inland, was probably the original harbour. The town, which is pleasantly situated some distance from the sea, is built on the side of a hill. Its church, a cruciform building of great beauty, in part Romanesque, has been restored since 1866, and contains in a crypt an extraordinary collection of human skulls and bones. Near to Hythe are the headquarters of the School of Musketry and Shorncliffe camp, both established in 1854; the picturesque ruins of Saltwood Castle, with memories of Becket; and the obsolete Royal Military Canal, 23 miles long, constructed in 1805 for the conveyance of military stores to Rye. In 1881 a sea-wall and parade, extending from Hythe to Sandgate and Folkestone, was opened. These and some smaller places are included in the parliamentary borough of Hythe, which since 1832 has returned only one member. Pop. of that borough (1851) 13,164; (1901) 46,619, of whom 5557 were within the municipal limits, which include West Hythe.