Explore The Southeast
One of the best-preserved medieval towns in the country, SANDWICH is best known nowadays for giving rise to England’s favourite culinary contribution when, in 1762, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich, passionately absorbed in a game of cards, ate his meat between two bits of bread for a quick snack. Today it’s a sleepy, picturesque town, with some fine half-timbered buildings and a lovely location on the willow-lined banks of the River Stour. It also boasts one of England’s best golf courses, the Royal St George Golf Course, just outside town. A frequent venue of the British Open tournament, it is open to all-comers on weekdays.
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The Cinque Ports
The Cinque Ports
In 1278 Edward I formalized the unofficial confederation of defensive coastal settlements – Dover, Hythe, Sandwich, New Romney and Hastings – as the Cinque Ports (pronounced “sink”, despite its French origin). In return for providing England with maritime support, chiefly in the transportation of troops and supplies during times of war, the five ports were granted trading privileges and other liberties. Later, Rye, Winchelsea and a few other “limb” ports on the southeast coast were added to the confederation. The ports’ privileges were revoked in 1685; their maritime services had become increasingly unnecessary after Henry VIII had founded a professional navy and, due to a shifting coastline, several of the ports’ harbours had silted up anyway, leaving some of them several miles inland. Nowadays, only Dover is still a major working port.
