Cinque Ports

More great places to visit in Kent - Get all the Yourcounty updates free to you mailbox by signing up for the Kent Review

Cinque Ports

The Cinque Ports are spread along the Kent and East Sussex coasts. It's not possible to visit all the ports or principle points of interest in a day and it would even be a rush over a long weekend. A three or four day trip staying in local B&Bs is an excellent adventure, particularly if you undertake it with children and/or friends and relatives who are strangers to Kent. The trip can be made at any time of year but you'll need to check on the opening times of the stopping off points on your particular itinerary.

As the name suggests there were originally five Cinque Head Ports (Hastings, Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich) however the influence of the Cinque Port concept grew after it's inception in the reign of Edward the Confessor and the first official consolidation of the relationship in the 13th century. Each Head Port shared it's burden with nearby towns and villages known as limbs. The largest of the limbs became corporate members of the charter whilst the smaller limbs remained satellites of their Head Port.

In essence the Cinque Ports were a series of coastal towns joined together in a formal relationship. The Head Ports supplied 57 ships, complete with crews for 15 days every year, both for warfare and the service of the King and his armies. In return the Cinque Ports were granted exemptions from certain taxes and levies, prestigious honours at the royal court, some legal autonomy and economic rights linked to lucrative herring fishing.

Today the Confederation has seven Head Ports: Dover, Hastings, Hythe, New Romney, Rye, Sandwich and Winchelsea. Other corporate members are Deal, Faversham, Folkestone, Lydd, Margate, Ramsgate and Tenterden.

Contact:

Web: www.cinqueports.ne

Please refer to our disclaimer, Yourcounty does not have any responsibility for the content of external websites.