Cinque Port

The Confederation of Cinque Ports () is a historic group of coastal towns in south-east England – predominantly in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier (Brightlingsea) in Essex. The name is Old French, meaning "five harbours", and alludes to the original five members (Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich). At its peak in the late middle ages, the confederation included over 40 members.

The confederation was originally formed for military and trade purposes, but is now entirely ceremonial. The ports lie on the western shore of the English Channel, where the crossing to the European continent is narrowest.

Origins

The origins of the confederation are obscure, but are believed to lie in the late Anglo-Saxon period, and specifically in the reign of Edward the Confessor (1042–1066). Certain south-east ports were granted the local profits of justice in return for providing ships. The ship service of Romney, Dover and Sandwich (but not the confederation itself) is noted in Domesday Book (1086). By 1135, the term Cinque Ports had come into use; and in 1155 a royal charter established the ports to maintain ships ready for the Crown in case of need. The earliest general charter granting liberties to the ports in common dates from 1260. Their liberties are also mentioned in the Magna Carta of 1297 (clause 9). The chief obligation laid upon the ports, as a corporate duty, was to provide 57 ships for 15 days' service to the king annually, each port fulfilling a proportion of the whole duty.

It is sometimes said that the rationale behind the granting of privileges, and their maintenance and extension over several centuries, was the need for the Crown to have a guaranteed supply of men and ships in time of war, and that the Cinque Ports therefore played an important role in the development of the Royal Navy. N. A. M. Rodger questions whether the arrangement was ever intended to raise any genuinely effective naval provision, and shows that the Cinque Ports did not contribute to English strength at sea significantly more than other English ports of similar size. He argues rather that the original package of privileges may have been granted by Edward the Confessor out of a need to purchase the loyalty of a group of potentially troublesome ports that were of strategic importance to the control of cross-Channel traffic. Nevertheless, in the 13th and 14th centuries the ports did play a significant role in the defence of the realm, although their importance declined thereafter.

Membership

Head Ports

The original five ports were:
*Hastings
*New Romney
* Hythe
*Dover
*Sandwich

In medieval documents, Hastings sometimes appears to be given precedence among the ports (for example, the charters granted to Rye and Winchelsea by Henry II in 1155 refer to "The Barons of Hastings and the Cinque Ports"); but this usage probably arose simply from geographical convenience, with the ports being conventionally listed in order from west to east.

Ancient Towns

By 1190, two further towns had joined the confederation, originally to assist Hastings in her provision of ships. In time they grew in prosperity, and by the 14th century were recognised as possessing the same "head port" status as the original five ports. In deference to the literal meaning of "Cinque Ports", however, these two additional members were always distinguished under the title of the "Ancient Towns" (often spelled "Antient Towns"). The confederation is therefore sometimes referred to as "The five Cinque Ports and two Ancient Towns". The Ancient Towns were:
*Winchelsea
* Rye

Limbs

Over the years, a number of further towns and ports joined the confederation as detached "Limbs" or "Members" (the terms are used interchangeably) of the seven head ports: they took a share in the burden of ship service, and a share in the privileges of the confederation. The limbs were often distinguished as either "corporate limbs", whose status was confirmed by royal charter, and which enjoyed a considerable degree of self-government, or "non-corporate limbs", which were more heavily dependent on, and governed by, their head port.

Corporate limbs

The corporate limbs were:
*Pevensey (limb of Hastings)
* Seaford (limb of Hastings)
*Tenterden (limb of Rye)
*Lydd (limb of New Romney)
*Folkestone (limb of Dover)
*Faversham (limb of Dover)
*Fordwich (limb of Sandwich)
*Deal (limb of Sandwich; originally a non-corporate limb, but incorporated in 1699)

Non-corporate limbs

Non-corporate limbs have at various dates included:
* Limbs of Hastings: Grange (now part of Gillingham, Kent), Bekesbourne, Bulverhythe, Northeye (former village in Sussex), Eastbourne, Hydney (now Hampden Park, part of Eastbourne), Pebsham (small village between Bulverhythe and Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill">Bexhill-on-Sea.html" ;"title="hen as Bexhill-on-Sea">Bexhill, and Petit Iham (settlement near Winchelsea)
* Limbs of New Romney: Old Romney, Bromehill (near Winchelsea), Dengemarsh, and Orwaldstone
* Limb of Hythe: West Hythe
* Limbs of Dover: Margate, St Johns (part of Margate), Goresend (now Birchington), Birchington Wood (now Woodchurch), St Peters, Ringwould, and Kingsdown
* Limbs of Sandwich: Reculver, Sarre, Walmer, Stonar (near Richborough), Ramsgate, and Brightlingsea (in Essex)

Current limbs

Many of the historic members of the confederation have now either ceased to exist as a result of coastal change, or have shrunk or lost status for other reasons. The following are the current limbs of the confederation:
*Tenterden (limb of Rye)
*Lydd (limb of New Romney)
*Folkestone (limb of Dover)
*Faversham (limb of Dover)
*Margate (limbs of Dover)
*Deal (limb of Sandwich)
*Ramsgate (limb of Sandwich)

Privileges

In return for their ship service, the towns received various privileges, including:
*Exemption from tax and tallage
*Rights of sac and soc urisdiction over criminal and civil cases within their liberties*Rights of toll and team uthority over the sale or passage of cattle and other property within their liberties*Rights of bloodwit and fledwit uthority to punish shedders of blood, and those seized in an attempt to escape justice*Rights of pillory and tumbril uthority to punish delinquents*Rights of infangthief and outfangthief uthority to imprison or execute thieves or other felons*The right of mundbryce dikes as a defence against the sea">Dyke_(embankment).html" ;"title="he right to enter private property in order to erect banks or Dyke (embankment)">dikes as a defence against the sea*Rights of Waif and stray">waifs and strays