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LOCAL
HISTORY:
The Cinque Ports &
Two Antient Towns
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The
Kent and East Sussex coast are home to seven towns
that were once the only thing standing between
the English throne and oblivion. Long before
England raised its own Royal Navy, these towns
harboured the ships and men who guarded King and
country from frequent and vicious attacks. They
also provided transport for the King, his family
and armies, between England and the continent
of Europe.
Today, they are mostly small historic towns
and seaside resorts with little evidence of their
awesome violent past.
They are the Cinque Ports
- Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich,
and the 'Two Antient Towns' of Rye and Winchelsea.
The legend of England's maritime power was born
amidst their narrow, winding streets and medieval
houses, and it still resonates to this day.
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It
is difficult to imagine that the Antient Town of Winchelsea,
which now has the appearance and population of a small
village, was once a leading town of England and the major
port of Sussex.
Its importance was such that, when Old Winchelsea was
destroyed by the sea, King Edward I personally provided
its present site on the hill of Iham.
In
the fourteenth century, Winchelsea suffered French raids,
the Black Death and the silting of its harbour. Despite
this its Corporation survived, largely through the
right of its freemen to elect two members to parliament.
Those seats were lost in 1832, and in the 1880's parliament
agreed that Winchelsea could keep its mayor and remain
a Head Port of the Confederation, although the Corporation
ceased to have local government powers.
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