fortified. It was on this side of the town the shipping principally lay.
The site of the first town of Winchelsea was near the spot called Comber point, now covered by the sea. Among the records of the town of Rye is the following memorandum :"Be it remembered, that in the year of our Lord 1287, in the even of St. Agath the Virgin, was the town of Winchelsea drowned, and all the lands between Climesden and the vocher of Hithe. The same year was such plenty of corn throughout all the counties of England, Scotland, and Wales, that a quarter ofwheat was sold for two shillings."
After this catastrophe, the inhabitants, it appears, began to build the present town of Winchelsea on the hill, which bore at that time the name of Petit Higham, as does the manor to this day. From this hill commences the weald or wild of Sussex and Kent, extending to the top of Riverhill. This tract is about 30 miles in breadth, and 120 in length. The southern parts of the weald in summer is a complete garden, covered with the most luxuriant foliage.
About a mile and a half from the town, in the marsh, stands Winchelsea or Camber castle, built by Henry the Eighth in 1539, for the protection of the coast, at an expense of £23,000, supposed to have been erected upon the site and with the ruins of a more ancient fabric. It is composed principally of brick cased with stone. In the centre is a large circular tower called the keep, surrounded at short distances by smaller ones. Much of the castle is buried below the surface of the earth.
