New Winchelsea Town Wall

Home - Search

  • Description
  • Photos
  • Details
  • Books and Resources
  • Links

Piece of wall and three gates of a walled model town founded 1283. Most of circuit of defence may never have got beyong a ditch and bank. Murage first granted 1295. The licence to crenellate issued by Henry V in c.1415 was to permit a smaller line of defence to be fortified.The Strand Gate; One of the medieval gates of the town. Late C13. Four round turrets joined North and South by side walls and East and West by two archways, each having a portcullis groove. Above the arches was a solid portion which had stone vaulting, now fallen away. Parapet over. Loop windows.The Pipewell or Land Gate; The second of the medieval gates of the town, also at one time called the Ferry Gate. Rebuilt in the early C15 after the French had burned the town in 1380. Stone rubble. Two four-centred archways with the lower portion of a square tower over, though the centre of the roof above the archways has fallen in.The New Gate; Ruin of the third of the medieval gates of the town which one stretched as far as this point. Late C13. Stone rubble. High four-centred archway with splayed flanking portions containing recesses

View a higher resolution map

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved

 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


 

New Winchelsea Town Wall

Photograph by Philip Davis. All rights reserved


Name New Winchelsea Town Wall 
Alternative Names Winceleseia; Winchenesel; Winchelsay; Wynchelse; Yhamme; Ihamme; The Strand Gate; North Gate; Pipewell Gate; Land Gate; Ferry Gate; New Gate 
Historic County Sussex 
Civil Parish Icklesham 
Type Urban Defence 
Confidence Certain 
Remains Major 
Listed Grade 1
Scheduled Ancient Monument Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference TQ904171
Eastings 590400
Northing 117100
Images of England Reference410497
PastScape Reference978700
Historic Environment Record

Multi Map

StreetMaps

Books

  • Lilley, K, Lloyd, C. and Trick, S., 2005, Mapping Medieval Townscapes: a digital atlas of the new towns of Edward I available at http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?atlas_ahrb_2005
  • Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p18, 24, 72, 98-99, 139, 278
  • Martin, D. and Martin, B. et al, 2004, New Winchelsea, Sussex: A Medieval Port Town (Field Archaeology Unit Monograph - Institute of Archaeology, London)
  • Marti, D. and Rudling, D. (eds), 2004, Excavations in Winchelsea, Sussex 1974-2000 (Field Archaeology Unit Monograph - Institute of Archaeology, London)
  • Jones, R., 2003, 'Hastings to Herstmonceux: the castles of Sussex' in Rudling, D. (ed) The archaeology of Sussex to AD2000 (Great Dunham: Heritage Marketing and Publications) p171-8
  • Martin, David, 2003, 'Winchelsea - A Royal New Town' in Rudling, D. (ed) The archaeology of Sussex to AD2000 (Great Dunham: Heritage Marketing and Publications) p179-190
  • Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern) p70-1
  • Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p254-5
  • Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116 [plan]
  • Guy, John, 1984, Castles in Sussex (Phillimore) p118-121
  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p476
  • Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71
  • Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p176-9
  • Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1937, VCH Sussex Vol9 p62-4
  • Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p208-9
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p421
  • Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1853, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol2 p157
  • Cooper, 1850, History of Winchelsea (London) p95 and elsewhere
  • Grose, F., 1756, Antiquities of England and Wales Vol5 p194-5

Antiquarian

  • William Camden, 1607, Britannia [http://www.philological.bham.ac.uk/cambrit/barkseng.html#sussex18]
  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England (Sutton Publishing) p457

Journals

  • Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T.B., 1984, 'Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1983' Medieval Archaeology Vol28 p242 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Youngs, S.M., Clark, J. and Barry, T.B., 1983, ‘Medieval Britain and Ireland in 1982' Medieval Archaeology Vol27 p205 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Rudling, D.R., 1983, ‘Winchelsea’. Sussex Archaeological Society Newsletter 39 p323
  • Rudling, D.R. and Leach, P., 1983, ‘Further fieldwork at Winchelsea, East Sussex' in Bedwin,O. (ed), ‘Rescue Archaeology in Sussex 1982: a ninth progress report on the Sussex Archaeological Field Unit' Bulletin of the Institute of Archaeology 20 p95–8
  • Youngs, S.M. and Clark, J., 1981, ‘Medieval Britain in 1980' Medieval Archaeology Vol25 p213 [downloadable via http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/resources.html?medarch]
  • Homan, 1949, Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol88 p22-41 esp 37-8
  • Chambers, G.E., 1937, 'The French bastides and the town plan of Winchelsea' Archaeological Journal Vol94 p177-206
  • Ditchfield, P.H., 1924, 'The walls of Rye and Winchelsea' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol30 p120-131

Primary Sources

  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1413-16) p368-9 [licence to crenellate]
  • Calendar of Patent Rolls (1292-1301) p147; (1321-1324) p14 (1413-1416) p273 [murage grants]

Unpublished

  • Martin, D. and Martin, B., 2002, An Extensive Survey Assessment of Winchelsea, East Sussex (Archaeology South-East)
  • Martin, D. and Martin, B., 2002, A Quarter-by-Quarter Analysis of Winchelsea, East Sussex (Archaeology South-East)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commerical purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself. The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others. This site is based upon the databases collated and maintained by Philip Davis who kindly gave permission for its use.