The East Sussex town with a population of just 600 people.
MILLENNIUM SIGN
This beautiful town sign was erected to mark the millennium, as noted by the double M at the top; M being the Latin for a thousand.
It depicts the coat of arms of the Cinque Ports - the three lions of England conjoined with three ships.
It is topped with a golden model representation of a ‘nef’, the type of boat used by maritime traders of the time, known as a typical Cinque Ports ship.
THE STRAND GATE
The Strand Gate once stood as a major part of the defence of this town, with armed guards and a portcullis to ward off potential intruders.
It is, of course, a scheduled monument. When it was built around the year 1300, it would probably have been painted white, making it visible from the sea.
ST THOMAS' CHURCH
The Irish comedian, writer and actor Spike Milligan lived not far from here, in Udimore, and was buried in the churchyard of St Thomas’ Church, which was named after and dedicated to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, who was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral on December 29th 1170.
Milligan’s gravestone is famous for the epitaph: ‘I told you I was ill’, rendered in Gaelic as ‘Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite’.
BARRACK SQUARE
These lovely houses in Barrack Square have a bit of history attached to them. The building itself dates from 1764, when it was used as a factory making cambric, a special kind of cloth whose origins lie in the French city of Cambrai, roughly halfway between Paris and Calais.
At that time, there were 86 looms working here, with just short of 200 employees. The street name, however, dates from the time the Duke of Wellington’s army was quartered here during the Napoleonic Wars.
THE LITTLE HOUSE
Sometimes known as The Little House, this was once the home of then-famous novelist Ford Madox Ford, a man often cited as one of this country’s finest novelists of the 20th century.
HIHAM GREEN
When Edward I appointed people to find a new site for the town after the original town was destroyed by a flood in 1287, his commissioners settled on the hill of Iham, and Winchelsea as we now know it came into being, designed by the king himself.
One story I heard is that this road was therefore originally called Higham Street, but then changed to Hiham Green to avoid confusion with the High Street. Either way, it’s a very pretty place to live.
JOHN WESLEY
English cleric and founder of the Methodist movement John Wesley first visited the town in 1772 and the population was so taken with him that they built a chapel in 1785, then known as Winchelsea Chapel.
He came back to preach in 1789 from the pulpit which still stands in the chapel to this day. Finally, on October 7th, 1790, he returned, this time to deliver his last open-air sermon underneath the tree on German Street.
DUMB WOMAN'S LANE
Dumb Woman’s Lane, on the way to Udimore, was where Spike Milligan once lived. Now, it’s a place where people like to have their photograph taken, standing next to one of the street signs.
Reasons for the bizarre name vary - one story is that a mute woman who dispensed traditional medicines lived here. Another is that a woman once witnessed smugglers going about their trade and had her tongue cut out so she couldn’t tell anyone
CAMBER CASTLE
Camber Castle, formerly known as Winchelsea Castle, was built on the orders of King Henry VIII between 1512 and 1515 to protect the coast against possible attacks from France.
At that time, of course, it stood on the coast but years of silting up in this coastal area led to it eventually finding itself well inland, making it’s entire reason for being redundant. It was closed by King Charles I in 1637. It is now in the capable hands of English Heritage.
THE LOCAL VIEW
Peter Cosstick: "Winchelsea is fantastic community to live in. The people are wonderful. We have 700 years of history.
"People don’t realise this was once an incredibly important port, a member of the Cinque Ports Confederation. I think we only have a population of about 600. Back in its heyday, in the 1300s, it was about 6,000 people.
"I think this place is perfect and as long as we maintain what we’ve got in terms of all our ancient monuments, then it will be here for another 700 years."
Ali Casey: "As well as being absolutely beautiful, especially when the sun shines, one thing that’s great about Winchelsea is the fantastic buildings.
"We can walk to the sea. The most important thing for me though is the people. We’ve made lots of really good friends and we’ve only been here a couple of years."
With thanks to all the Court Hall Museum for their help with this article. Find further information on the town at www.winchelsea.com, where you can also book a cellar tour.
This article first appeared on Great British Life.
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