After the great storm of 1273. Winchelsea was no longer near the sea
Here is the beach today. Two miles from the town.
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peterlee · M
Throughout the Middle Ages there were raids from the French, including decimating the church.
Henry eighth built a castle at Camber nearby.
The Royal military canal was built to defend England against Napoleon.
Churchill was so worried, he considered flooding the Romney Marsh.
Yet what you see is a region of beauty and tranquility, formed all those years ago.
Henry eighth built a castle at Camber nearby.
The Royal military canal was built to defend England against Napoleon.
Churchill was so worried, he considered flooding the Romney Marsh.
Yet what you see is a region of beauty and tranquility, formed all those years ago.
ArishMell · 70-79, M
@peterlee Henry VIII built quite a number of coastal defences. I don't know how far he went along the South coast but he protected Portlaand Roads, as it was called, by two gun batteries facing geach other across the sheltered bay. The ranges of the guns available was just enough to allow some overlap in the middle.
They survive, one structurally intact as Portland Castle. The other, Sandsfoot Castle, is a stabilised ruin whose gun-platform has long been lost to erosion of the cliff it stands on.
The Roads became protected as Portland Harbour by the late-19C building of huge breakwaters; and was a Royal Navy Base until the 1990s when it was closed and sold to become a commercial port..
The English Channel at that point is about 70 or so miles wide to the Cherbourg Peninsula and Normandy Beaches. Perhaps a bit wide for 16C North-bound invasions sailing across the prevailing wind, but not for the 20C D-Day and subsequent South-bound invasion!
They survive, one structurally intact as Portland Castle. The other, Sandsfoot Castle, is a stabilised ruin whose gun-platform has long been lost to erosion of the cliff it stands on.
The Roads became protected as Portland Harbour by the late-19C building of huge breakwaters; and was a Royal Navy Base until the 1990s when it was closed and sold to become a commercial port..
The English Channel at that point is about 70 or so miles wide to the Cherbourg Peninsula and Normandy Beaches. Perhaps a bit wide for 16C North-bound invasions sailing across the prevailing wind, but not for the 20C D-Day and subsequent South-bound invasion!