Winchelsea New Gate ( South) Traditional Cache
laptarunner: exisiting location deemed unsuitable.
Winchelsea New Gate ( South)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The cache is placed close to the Old Town Gate to the Cinque Port of Winchelsea. This was a major port but was left landlocked by climate change over 700 years ago.
Safe Parking close by.
The cache contained Running Medal, Rad Key,Fan,Key Ring, Football Token and Token.
If you have time, please invest an hour or so walking around this wonderful town.
Take care on narrow lanes in this area. Safe parking close by. A few brambles near by,so a stick may be useful.
Winchelsea is one of England’s least known but most important heritage sites. Today, it is a tranquil Sussex village of some 600 people. But 700 years ago, it was one of the greatest ports of the kingdom and a member of the Cinque Port Confederation with the special title of Ancient Town.
The ships of Winchelsea fished and traded from the North Sea to the Bay of Biscay. In times of war, along with the other members of the Cinque Port Confederation, it provided the fleets that defended our shores before the existence of the Royal Navy. In war and peace, its mariners indulged all too frequently in piracy and were the terror of the Narrow Seas.
The remnants of Winchelsea’s past glories are still to be seen: the imposing Church of St Thomas the Martyr, once the size of a small cathedral; three medieval gates; and, hidden beneath the broad streets, a collection of medieval wine cellars rivaled only by Southampton.
Moreover, the town was built by Edward I to replace an even older port of the same name, which was swept away by the sea in the 13th century. The new town was therefore planned from scratch and one of the unique features of modern Winchelsea is that its streets preserve the medieval grid pattern. Winchelsea also retains its historic setting, perched on a hill surrounded by marshland and resembling the hill-top bastide towns planted by Edward I in Gascony.
Although Winchelsea suffered during its time in the front line of the Hundred Years War, it was not the French who pushed the town off the pages of history. It was nature. Winchelsea was a river port sited on the estuary of the River Brede. The gradual silting of that estuary eventually isolated the Town from the sea. It became, in Kipling’s words, one of our ‘ports of stranded pride’. By the middle of the 16th century, Winchelsea was a sad reflection of its former self. However, that decline has preserved many of the features of the medieval town for modern generations.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Oruvaq lbh, uvqqra va Tngr Ubhfr va ubyr, nobir srapr cbfg.
Treasures
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