Great Stone, as it was known in c1800, was just a shingle headland, being the land point that marked the southern entrance to the bay that extended almost as far west as New Romney. The sea had been retreating from New Romney, once a harbour and port, ever since the 13th century.
The same shingle headland existed in 1617. It was the northern extremity of the Dungeness shingle and was known as Stone Point/End. In about pre-1800 shingle moved south from Dymchurch (to the north of Greatstone, south of Hythe) and started to form a barrier to the sea. This was known as Little Stone, which became the viilage of Littlestone.
Silt started to build up behind this barrier and in 1839 a wall was built to exclude the sea just to the north of the present Littlestone, which accelerated this silting process. Around 1900 a further sea wall was built that resulted in the gap between Greatstone and Littlestone being closed.
This was the beginning of Greatstone. And for shingle read 'stone' as in Greatstone.
The village lies between farm land and a nature reserve to the west and the English Channel to the east. It has a fine sandy beach popular with bathers and wind surfers alike.
Greatstone is centered around Dunes Road, extending, generally parallel to the coast, to Clark Road to the north, adjacent to Littlestone. To the south it extends to the south end of Leonard Road, adjacent to Lydd-on-Sea.
Nearly all its properties are residential with a few shops, local pubs, restaurants, holiday homes and two holiday parks
Located on the Parade in Greatstone fronting the beach although local amenities are available including several public houses, the main shopping town of New Romney is approximately two and a half miles away offering supermarkets, banks as well as a wider range of shopping facilities. The Channel Tunnel at Folkestone is approximately 16 miles and Dover is approximately 26 miles. Main line railway stations locally are at Appledore and Ham Street both within 9 miles being on the Ashford to Brighton line. Ashford International is approximately 13 miles and has connections to the Continent on Euro Star as well as the high speed service to London St Pancras in 37 minutes. The M20 may also be joined at Ashford.