WINCHELSEA
Several hundred years ago
Winchelsea was a
bustling,
maritime community and one of the leading ports and towns of England. It was this importance that prompted King
Edward 1 to save the storm-driven community in 1288 and transplant the
town to
the safety of the Hill of Iham and as the sea destroyed the Old
Winchelsea it
provided the defensible site for New Winchelsea. The
River Brede flowed past the foot of Strand Hill to “The
Camber” where the English fleet would gather at the Kings command and
from
there his grandson, Edward III, sailed on a Winchelsea flagship to one
of
Englands many naval victories during the Hundred Years War. Ships from around Britain and Europe loaded
and unloaded their cargoes here. Timber
was exported and wine imported and many of the medieval cellars still
survive
beneath existing houses. It was also a
departure point for pilgrims on their way to the shrine of St James at
Santiago
de Compostella in Spain.
Unlike most villages,
Winchelsea is laid out
in a grid pattern. When Edward I ordered
the planning of New
Winchelsea this was the accepted design for new towns.
Originally there were thirty-nine
squares
stretching to the south and west of today’s town. Among
the theories for this pattern layout are that the wide
streets provided firebreaks in the days when the majority of houses
were made
of wood and packed together. Winchelsea
was built to withstand attack by the sea and also from invaders across
the
channel, while most of the town walls have disappeared the town gates
remain. Strand Gate dates from the
early fourteenth century with people passing through from the harbour
below. Pipewell Gate was one of the
buildings to suffer from the raids by the Spanish in 1380.
It was rebuilt in either 1399 or 1404. New Gate stands among fields far from the
present town. The Church of St Thomas the Martyr was originally of
cathedral
proportions but the ravages of the French and Spanish raids during the
Hundred
Years War left it severely damaged. The Alard Tombs were placed there
in the
early fourteenth century and are St Thomas’s most important relics. The Armoury which is on the eastern side of
Castle Street is named from its use in the Napoleonic Wars and part of
the
interior survives from the construction of New Winchelsea.
Winchelsea, the sister
town of Rye, is about
2½ miles away
and is build on a similar hill to Rye but there the similarity ends. Winchelsea is built in squares.
The laying of the town in 1292 is a
wonderfully good piece of surveying and has no contemporary parallel in
England. This, of course, is the new
town of Winchelsea as the old town was washed away by the great storm
of 1287.
Today Winchelsea exists as
a lovely example
of early town
planning and the impression of clean streets and well planned houses
make the
town much sought after as a residential area.
Winchelsea still possesses
three fine
archways, the
beautiful church of St. Thomas, The Court Hall with its unusual
collection of
local antiquities and history at every corner.
John Wesley preached his
last outdoor sermon
under an ash
tree on 6th October 1970 and the original “Wesley’s Chapel”
is still
in use.
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