At that time the hill upon which Winchelsea was built, and
still stands, was washed by the sea, and the harbour soon became of
very great importance, indeed until the sixteenth century, when the
sea began to retire, Winchelsea was of much greater importance than
Rye. The retreat of the sea, however, completely ruined it, for it was
served by no river as Rye was by the Rother.
The town of Edward I., as we may see to-day, by what time has left us
of it, was built in squares, a truly Latin arrangement, the streets
all remaining at right angles the one to the other. It had three gates
and was defended upon the west, where it was not naturally strong, by
a great ditch. It was attacked and sacked by the French as often as
Rye, though not always at the same time. Thus in 1377, when Rye was
half destroyed, Winchelsea was saved by the Abbot of Battle, only to
be taken three years later by John de Vienne, when the town was burnt.
No doubt these constant and mostly successful attacks deeply injured
the place which, after the sea had begun to retreat in the sixteenth
century, at the time of Elizabeth's visit in 1573, only mustered some
sixty families.
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