Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for WINCHELSEA

WINCHELSEA, a decayed town and a parish in Rye district, Sussex. The original town stood 3 miles SE of the present one, and 4¼ S of Rye; occupied a low flat island, now submerged; took its name of Winchelsea: signifying "Winchel's island," probably from Wincheling, son of Cissa, founder of the South Saxon kingdom, possessed some importance in the Saxon times; was given by Edward the Confessor to Fecamp abbey in Normandy; was the landing-place of William the Conqueror in 1067, of Henry II. in 1188, and of two of the knights who shared in the murder of Thomas à Becket; became a cinque port before the time of King John; was revoked from the monks of Fécamp by Henry III., by exchange for Cheltenham manor; took part with Simon de Montfort, made some resistance to the Crown even after Simon's death, and was taken and desolated by Prince Edward; was the birthplace of Archbishop Robert de Winchelsea, who died in 1313; and suffered three inundations in 1236, 1250, and 1287, the first and second of which did it vast damage, while the third utterly destroyed it. A new town was founded by Edward I., on an eminence of 150 acres, 2½ miles SW of Rye, now skirted on the N by the Ashford and Hastings railway, and then washed on two sides by the sea; was aligned on a regular plan, in 39 squares or quarters, similar to the alignment of a Roman town; was protected, on three sides, by the natural strength of the ground,-on the fourth side, by a deep trench or moat: had four gates, three of which, in a ruinous condition, are still standing; had a Dominican convent and a St. Anthony's preceptory, which have left no remains; had also a grey friary, some beautiful arches and windows of the choir of which still exist; had churches of St. Giles and St. Leonard, which long ago disappeared; had also a church of St. Thomas, the nave of which was destroyed in the 14th century, but the aisled chancel of which, in early decorated English architecture, still stands, was restored in 1850, and is now the parish church; was long a chief port of embarkation for France; carried on a large commerce in the importation of French wines and other commodities, and had massive crypts for the storage of the wines; was pillaged by the French in 1360, by the Spaniards in 1380, by the French again in 1449; witnessed a great sea-fight in its near vicinity, in 1350, between the Spanish fleet and the fleet of Edward III.; continued to prosper till about the middle of the 15th century; began then to suffer decadence by the retiring of the sea and the choking of its harbour; continued still to make so imposing an appearance at a visit to it of Queen Elizabeth in 1573 that she was pleased to call it "Little London;" sank afterwards into such irretrievable decline as to be now a mere village in the midst of grim and wasted relics of its former greatness; sent two members to parliament from the time of Edward III. till 1832, and was then denuded of its franchise and annexed to Rye; is a borough by prescription, governed by a mayor and jurats: has a court-house and jail, in Anglo-Saxon architecture; had a weekly market on Saturday, which has long been discontinued; contains still some good houses, including a new rectory-house and the mansion of Mr. Dunlop; gives the title of Earl to the family of Finch-Hatton; and has a post-office under Rye, a r. station, an inn, and a fair on 14 May.—The parish comprises 825 acres of land and 685 of water. Real property, £8,884. Pop., 719. Houses, 147. The property is not much divided. W. Castle is called also Camber Castle, and has been separately noticed under that title. The living is a rectory in the diocese of Chichester. Value, £278.* Patron, Sir A. Ashburnham, Bart.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a decayed town and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: St Thomas the Apostle Winchelsea CP/AP       Rye RegD/PLU       Sussex AncC
Place: Winchelsea

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