The 19th century writer, Grant Allen argued that the Hastings region was predestined to be a separate region between the rest of Sussex and Kent, to later join with Sussex. Effectively isolated, the region was separated from the rest of Sussex and England by the marshland of the Pevensey Levels lying to the west and the forest of the Weald to the north, while Romney Marsh separates the region from Kent to the east. The kingdom of the Haestingas went on to join Sussex and become the rape of Hastings.