Cinque Ports
[12] 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.He argues rather that the original 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.The following are the current limbs of the confederation:[3] In return for their ship service, the towns received various privileges, including:[2] This means that in effect they were granted a degree of self-government, legal jurisdiction, and financial advantage.[38] The practice had been regularised by the end of the 14th century, with the five head ports and two ancient towns, and one corporate limb (Seaford), each being entitled to send two Members to Parliament.[12][39] Many of the Portsmen were fishermen, and in pursuit of herring sailed annually to the Norfolk coast, where they claimed rights of "den and strand" on the sandbank at the mouth of the River Yare.The confederation had its own system of assemblies and common courts: All Freemen of the ports, termed "Portsmen", were deemed in the age of feudalism to be barons, and thus members of the baronage entitled to attend the king's parliament – a privilege granted in 1322 in recognition of their earlier support of the Despensers, father and son.[65] For the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in 2023, fourteen barons joined the congregation in the abbey, representing the original five ports, the two ancient towns and the seven limbs.While they survived the raids from the Danes and the French, the numerous destructive impact of plagues, and the politics of the 13th-century Plantagenets and the subsequent War of the Roses, natural causes such as the silting of harbours and the withdrawal of the sea did much to undermine them.Although by the 14th century the confederation faced wider challenges from a greater consolidation of national identity in the monarchy and Parliament, the legacy of the Saxon authority remained.In the latter part of the thirteenth century a series of severe storms weakened the coastal defences of Romney Marsh, and the South England flood of February 1287 almost destroyed the town.[69] Nevertheless, in 1689 the Cinque ports were among those specifically called following the Glorious Revolution to elect representatives to attend the Convention Parliament which enacted the English Bill of Rights.[70] With the advance in shipbuilding techniques came a growth in towns such as Bristol and Liverpool and the wider development of ports such as London, Gravesend, Southampton, Chichester, Plymouth and the royal dockyards of Chatham, Portsmouth, Greenwich, Woolwich and Deptford.The early history of the confederation is poorly documented, and can generally be traced only through incidental mentions in the charters granted to individual ports, or in other external records.One important early document, first compiled in the 13th century, but which survives only in the form of later and variant copies, is the so-called "Domesday of the Ports", a list of the then-members of the confederation and the services they owed.[75] There has historically been some confusion as to whether the three ships should be depicted as gold ("or") or silver ("argent"): both variants are found in reputable heraldic sources from the late middle ages to the 19th century.
Cinque Ports (1703 ship)Heraldic bannerSussexBrightlingseaOld FrenchHastingsNew RomneySandwichEnglish ChannelAnglo-Saxon periodEdward the ConfessorDomesday Bookroyal charterthe CrownMagna CartaRoyal NavyN. A. M. RodgerHenry IIWinchelseaPevenseySeafordTenterdenFolkestoneFavershamFordwichGillingham, KentBekesbourneBulverhytheNortheyeEastbourneHampden ParkBexhill-on-SeaBexhillOld RomneyDengemarshWest HytheMargateBirchingtonWoodchurchSt PetersRingwouldKingsdownReculverWalmerRichboroughRamsgatetallagesac and soctoll and teambloodwitpillorytumbrilinfangthief and outfangthiefwaifs and straysflotsam, jetsam and liganParliamentregularisedMembersherringRiver YareYarmouthLord Warden of the Cinque PortsConstable of Dover CastleWalmer CastleLympneHenry Brooke, Lord CobhamDymchurchfalse etymologyGuestlingCinque ports parliament constituenciesbannersthree lions of Englandfeudalismbaronsbaronagefatherfeudal baronsModus Tenendi ParliamentumLords TemporalshiresboroughsKnights of the ShireburgessesEdward IIrepresentative barons of the Cinque Portssheriffcorporationmonopoliescoronationtime immemorialWestminster HallWestminster AbbeyCoronation of George IVCoronation of Edward VIICoronation of Charles III and CamillaPub signFrenchPlantagenetsWar of the RosesSouthamptonSouth England flood of February 1287River RotherestuaryRomney MarshThamesIsle of WightwreckingElizabeth IlotteryGlorious RevolutionConvention ParliamentBill of RightsBristolLiverpoolLondonGravesendChichesterPlymouthChathamPortsmouthGreenwichWoolwichDeptfordturnpikerailwayReform Act 1832