Winchelsea circular walk

This is a circular walk of about 5 miles, partly in farmland and partly in the wide streets of the quiet, unusual town of Winchelsea. The route starts by circling the town on paths with views across the Brede valley and Pett Level. There are no hills, a few stiles, some muddy sections and plenty of possibilities for extending or shortening the route. Explorer Maps 124 or 125 show alternative paths to the coast or to Rye (2-3 miles away). There are pubs and a tea shop in Winchelsea. Trains go to Winchelsea station from Rye and Hastings, usually hourly. Watch out for the station - there is no platform or sign on the south side of the line as it is a single track. The first time I made the journey I sat looking out of the train window towards the south and thought that we'd made an unscheduled stop. It wasn't until we reached Rye that I realised I had missed Winchelsea station completely. At the back of Greyfriars, a large house on the edge of Winchelsea, there's a magnificent 13th century ruined abbey church. You have to make an appointment if you want to see this - call Mr Graham on 01797 224388 and he will arrange a convenient time. Any attempt to get round the back of the house without an appointment will result in the arrival of 3 very loud (but not actually dangerous) dogs. Guess how I know this?

Walk Directions

1. Come out of Winchelsea railway station and turn right, cross the line and walk along the road towards Winchelsea.
See story of Old and New Winchelsea.

At the junction at the foot of the hill on which Winchelsea is built, look for a footpath on your right - you don't need to cross the main road. The footpath sign is marked "1066 country walk". Take this path and stay on it climbing a stile and crossing a little wooden bridge.

2. The path goes left here and follows the ditch at the edge of the field at the foot of the hill which used to be the coastal cliff. Follow the path up to a stile and continue along a hollow way which leads round and through a gate up to the old mill mound with the beacon on top.
See stories about the mill mound, and the miser of Winchelsea.

3. From the mill mound walk down across the field towards a stand of ash and sycamore trees, more-or-less parallel to the road which you can hear across the field on your left. There's a gap between the trees and the hedge - go through and follow the path to the top left hand corner of the field where there's a metal gate. Go through the gate, turn right and follow the sign showing the path turning left towards an old, rusty gasholder. When you go through the kissing gate near this strange landmark, turn sharp left and walk up the lane in front of you. It leads up beneath trees - a dark tunnel-like track known as Dead Man's Lane.
See story about the name of this track.

4. At the road at the top of the lane turn right and cross over to walk along the footpath beside the wall. When you reach a road junction look for a bridlepath sign to your right and walk down it until you reach a stile on your right (opposite one on your left). Climb over the right hand stile into a field and follow the footpath diagonally across the field down towards a ditch and a big willow tree at the bottom of the slope. Cross the ditch near the willow and climb the stile in front of you, but don't follow the indicated footpath direction across the field towards the farm. Instead, turn left and stay close to the left-hand edge of the field until you come to a gate onto the road. On your left is New Gate.
See story about Seaborne Sarah.

5. Turn right onto the road and walk down past New Gate cottages and look for the footpath sign on the left near the trees ahead of you. Take this path which leads across a field towards Pett Level - once marshes, now pasture. Follow the path round to the right keeping the hedge and high bank close on your left. Continue until you reach the Royal Military Canal.
See stories about the canal and Pre-Raphaelite painters.

The path leads you beside the canal until you come to a little bridge which you cross, then turn left following the footpath sign. Another bridge takes you across the main channel. Turn left so that you are walking back the way you came, but now on the other side of the canal.

6. Walk along the canal embankment until you reach a concrete bridge - you can extend your walk by turning right here and walking across Pett Level to the sea. Otherwise, cross the canal by this bridge and follow the footpath back towards the road. When you reach New Gate, if you're feeling agile you can walk through and scramble up the bank immediately to your left and over the metal fence. Otherwise, retrace your steps by going through the field gate before you reach New Gate itself.

7. Walk across the field towards the stile where the fallen elms lie. Climb over, cross the bridle path, and climb the next stile into the field that leads up towards the hospital ruin. There's a stile in the wall which you climb to reach the road where you turn right. Cross the road to get onto the footpath by the low wall and walk along towards Winchelsea. You can't miss the church.
See story - St Thomas' Church.

8. From the church it is easy to find the museum, an armoury, a teashop, more medieval gates and some beautiful houses.

9. If you have an appointment to see the ruins behind Greyfriars, the gates are near the school, on the east side of the church.

10. When you want to return to the station, walk down any of the roads that lead away from the church. At the edge of the town turn left and follow the road past "Cordwainers" and "Cobblers" towards Land Gate. Go through Land Gate and down the narrow pavement towards the junction with the road that goes back to the station.

Stories

Old Winchelsea

England's defence depends on the south coast and from Saxon times the kings needed the support of fishermen and boatbuilders. These men knew the waters of the English Channel and had the vessels and skills to help repulse invaders. Around 1050 Edward the Confessor regularised the arrangements by designating 5 - Cinque - ports whose obligations were to provide provisions, ships and men when the king needed them; to patrol and control the fisheries in the North Sea and to convey king and court overseas when required. In return these towns received various privileges: freedom from dues and tallies on goods going in and out; the right to keep salvage; the right to search other ships and virtual carte blanche at sea - legalised piracy really. There were (and still are) also privileges at court during the Coronation and on other state occasions. The original confederation of Cinque Ports comprised Hastings, Dover, Hythe, Romney and Sandwich. Winchelsea and Rye were affiliated later and called the Ancient Towns, and other "limbs" were added when necessary. But the Winchelsea which was the original Ancient Town is not the one you're visiting today. Old Winchelsea lies beneath the sea, about 3 miles south of Iham hill where "new" Winchelsea stands. The old town was flooded by a storm in 1236 and then again, more seriously in 1250 and 1252. Then in 1287 there was a tremendous storm which changed the whole coastline of this region. Eye-witness accounts describe a red moon, hours of gale force winds, a flooding high tide, with terrifying fiery crests on the huge waves, and then no ebb at all before another huge flood tide. Some historians believe that there may have been subsidence or an earthquake beneath the sea. This storm inundated Winchelsea completely, flooded Romney Marsh as far north as Appledore and moved the mouth of the Rother several miles westward along the coast from Romney to Rye. Local people had already foreseen that old Winchelsea was doomed. In 1288 Edward I gave the people of Winchelsea land on the hill of Iham for a new town. The architect engaged by the king to design the town was Itier Bachard, and he set a grid pattern for the streets, with the church in pride of place at the centre. The sea came up to the foot of the steep slopes, with a large and sheltered harbour on the north side (where the river and the caravan park are now). But over the next few decades the river brought silt down into the harbour, the sea piled up shingle and the harbour became shallower and shallower. In 1448 the French raided for the last time - after that the sea around Winchelsea was too shallow for their boats to approach the town. By 1600 the harbour had completely gone and the sea had receded from Romney Marsh and Pett Level.

The Mill Mound

This is the site of St Leonard's church which was once the church associated with the Benedictine "Black" friars who came to Winchelsea with the king's permission in 1317. They were given a site on King's Green quarter near the Greyfriars' hospital on the other side of town but moved to this place in 1358. As they were entirely dependent on the gifts of worshippers who came to hear them preach they needed to be further from their rival order and nearer the town itself. If you look towards the town from this mound, you can see the lumps and bumps in the intervening field that clearly show that there were once buildings and tracks there. During the 14th and 15th centuries the cult of St James at Compostella flourished and many pilgrims from England set off from Winchelsea. The Blackfriars were Benedictines who organised the pilgrimage both in this country and in France and Spain. Records show that in the year 1434, 2400 pilgrims left Winchelsea harbour in special barges. St James' day is 5th August and if it falls on a Sunday that is considered a most auspicious year to make the pilgrimage. Pilgrims had to swear not to carry more than the most basic of necessities and minimal funds, and not to reveal any national secrets while in Spain. The Black friars provided what was needed for the journey and depended on gifts and legacies from grateful recipients. The friary was suppressed in 1538. I don't know how long the mill functioned here but there are many photographs extant showing it on this hill. It was destroyed during the 1987 hurricane.

The Miser of Winchelsea

This story was recorded in Medieval times. There was a merchant who was a miser living in one of the houses near the harbour at Winchelsea. He kept his gold locked in a chest in his cellar and every night went to look at it and run it through his fingers. One night he opened the chest and received a terrible shock. On top of the gold was a creature of some kind. Although it was small, there was a terrifying fierceness about it. It was shaped like a human being in that it had limbs, head and body, but the proportions were goblin-like and its colour was a fiery reddish brown. Its eyes were full of malevolence and it stank of smoke and sulphur. The merchant felt terribly afraid as he looked at it, there on top of his pile of gold coins. "This money isn't yours. It belongs to Godwin the smith," said the demon, with a hissing croaking voice. The merchant slammed down the lid of the chest and ran up the stairs, panting and sweating. He couldn't get that figure or those words out of his mind. Not his money! Well if he couldn't keep it - and much as it pained him he knew that he couldn't, that he mustn't, keep the money - then no-one would have it! The miser found a hollow tree trunk and cut a section of it that was big enough to take the chest. He put the chest inside the hollow and blocked off the ends and, in the dark of night, he launched that strange vessel into the sea on a high tide. Godwin the smith, who lived by the water's edge in Rye, was looking out of his house a few days later when he saw a good sized log bobbing in the waves. "A Yule log!" he thought, "it will save me the trouble of hunting for one." He called his apprentice and they hauled the log out of the sea and put it by the fire to dry. Later that day Mary, his wife, saw a golden liquid seeping out of the end of the log - she pulled it away from the heat and called her husband. They realised what a treasure they had received and resolved to use it wisely. Godwin agreed that Mary should take charge of the money and, as the months passed, they prospered. Meanwhile, in Winchelsea, the merchant suffered a series of setbacks in his business. Cargoes were lost, commodity prices fell, and within a year he'd lost business, house - everything. He was reduced to begging, wandering from door to door. It so happened that he came to the door of Godwin's smithy. Mary was baking bread at the time and she told the beggar to sit and wait while she kneaded and backed the loaves. The man dozed on a stool at the door and Mary put 40 shillings' worth of gold into one of the loaves. She marked the top differently from the others in the batch, and when it came out of the oven and cooled a little, she woke the beggar and gave him the marked loaf. The former merchant/miser carried the loaf away and was walking up one of the cobbled streets of Rye when he came to an ale-house. It was a long time since he'd had a drink and the longing for one came over him like a fever. He looked around and saw some fishermen walking down the street. "Will you buy this loaf for a penny so I can have a drink?" His voice had developed a beggar's nervous whine. One of the men threw him a penny and took the loaf. The merchant went into the pub. Mary happened to be looking into the street when the fisherman walked by. She saw her marked loaf and bought it back from him for tuppence. The merchant/beggar drank his pennyworth of beer and went on his way - a beggar for the remainder of his days

Dead Man's Lane

During Norman times there were periods when Winchelsea actually belonged to the French as a result of treaties and deals between the kings of the two countries and the powerful abbeys of Fecamp and Battle. When Winchelsea was NOT part of France, the French of the Normandy coast often thought it should be and raided regularly. (The English did the same to various towns on the French coast - the men of the Cinque Ports were usually in the forefront of this piratical activity.) There were raids on Winchelsea in 1337 when much of the town was robbed and burned. The gates were locked every night and watches set round the town walls and ditch, but on Sunday 15th March 1359, New Gate was opened and the French came through - some say there were 3000 men, with 13 ships. The town was not well defended at this time as the Winchelsea men were themselves away raiding the French coast. The French chased residents, mostly women and children, up this lane to St Giles' church which used to be at the top and there they killed 40 people. The commonly held view is that the gate was opened from inside by a traitor in the town, but no-one was ever directly accused and no motive known. From that time, this lane has had its macabre name and, some people say, an eerie and uncomfortable atmosphere. These raids continued until the mid 15th century - during a later one the tower of St Thomas' church was destroyed (see later).

New Gate and Seaborne Sarah

It is not known when this gate was "new" - it appears to be of a similar age to the others on other boundaries of the town. Given the size of Winchelsea today, it is astonishing to think that this was once a boundary of the town - maybe half a mile away. Beside the gate is a ditch and bank, clearly part of the fortification of the erstwhile prosperous port. This is where the French raiders entered the town even though there was once a drawbridge. As the walk continues you can see how close the Pett Level fields come to this boundary - once the sea (albeit shallower here than on the north side of the town) came virtually up to this gate. It is not clear whether all the land between here and St John's hospital was actually built on in the town's heyday. This gate is haunted by Seaborne Sarah. When she is seen, it is a sign that the town is in danger. (The bells of Old Winchelsea can be heard from beneath the waves too, when a warning is needed.) Seaborne Sarah lived at a nearby farm during the 17th century. Her family was involved in the sending of wool to Flanders without paying export duty - owling. Since it would clearly be a waste to bring boats back empty, they carried cargoes of brandy and lace and later tea and sent them up to London by way of the fast road through Battle. Sarah was an adventurous girl and having started with the landward side of the trade she moved on to travelling with the goods by sea. Eventually she had a lugger of her own and she prospered. But one night the revenue men attacked her boat and Sarah was killed in the melee. Since then she has haunted New Gate though there hasn't been a sighting for a long time.

Royal Military Canal

This unfinished channel was dug in the early 19th century as part of the defence of the coast against invasion by Napoleon. William Cobbett records the thought that it would be unlikely to deter an army which had crossed the Rhine and the Danube. Now it is not always as peaceful as it looks. The rookery near New Gate can be very noisy and in spring, marsh frogs sing very loudly here in great numbers creating a serious cacophany. It is said that these frogs were deliberately imported from Hungary to eat the larvae of malaria carrying mosquitoes. Malaria, known as the ague, was common in marshy places in the south east for many centuries. The frogs did the job, but they have also elbowed out most of the common frogs of the area. The canal embankment is a good spot for birdwatching, with terns, lapwings, swans, herons, finches and others in their seasons. There are also lots of dragonflies here. The Pre-Raphaelite painters Millais, Holman Hunt and Edward Lear visited this area on walking holidays and found the light and landscape to their liking. Millais painted his "Blind Girl" a little further along - the canal and Winchelsea cliff can clearly be seen in the landscape. He also painted in the church where the clergyman challenged the need for painting at all, God's artistry being paramount. The painters had lunch at New Inn in Winchelsea with Thackeray, who lived here and who based the character Dennis Duval on Millais.

The Church of St Thomas

The size of this church and graveyard indicate the aspirations of New Winchelsea when it was established in the 1280s. No-one is quite sure whether the church was completed and then parts destroyed during the French raids, or whether it was never finished. There is an excellent guidebook available in the church. The door has always been unlocked when I have visited and the church is a place of great beauty and interest. There is a black Madonna, a Green Man head and some fine Sussex marble figures reputed to have been rescued from Old Winchelsea church during the flood times. One of these has his ankles crossed indicating that he was a Templar. There are some glorious windows, many modern. One honours the men of the Mary Stanford lifeboat who died while on a rescue mission in 1928. Outside, there is Spike Milligan's grave - from the church door look ahead and slightly left for a celtic cross, with a path worn in the grass leading to it. The inscription in Gaelic apparently means "I told you I was ill" which was what Spike requested for his tombstone. There is an ash tree just outside the wall of the graveyard that marks the spot where John Wesley preached his last open air sermon. He apparently despaired of the local people because of their attachment to smuggling and associated deviant activities. A modern weathervane suggests that there may still be similar elements in the town.