SHIPPING OF THE CINQUE PORTS a.d. j 



^'^11- "I 



townes had cause to complaine of any (being within the \ 



liberties of the said Ports) he should be at Shipwey to • 



propound against him, and there to receive according to \ 



law and Justice. i 



Thus much I recite out of Bracton, partly to shew that . 



Shipwey was before K. Edward the firsts time, the place of j 



assembly for the Plees of the Five Ports : partly to notifie • 



the difference, and controversie that long time since was ] 



betweene these Ports, and those other townes : But pur- i 



posely, and chiefly, to prove, that Hastings, and Hithe, 'f 



Dover, Rumney, and Sandwich, were in Bractons time \ 

 accompted the Five principall havens or Ports, which were 



endowed with priviledge, and had the same ratified by the .i 



great Chartre of England. j 



Neither yet will I deny, but that soone after, Winchel- 1268. ] 



sey and Rie might be added to the number. For I find \- J i 



in an old recorde, that king Henry the third tooke into j 



his owne hands (for the better defence of the Realme) the j 



townes of Winchelsey, and Rie, which belonged before to | 



the Monasterie of Fescampe in Normandie, and gave I 



therefore in exchange, the Manor of Chiltham in Glouces- i 



tershire, & divers other lands in Lincolneshire. This he j 



did, partly to conceale from the Priors Aliens the intelli- j 



gence of the secret affaires of his Realme, and partly \ 



because of a great disobedience & excesse, that was com- ; 

 mitted by the inhabitants of Wincelsey, against Prince 



Edward his eldest sonne. And therefore, although I can | 



easily be led to thinke, that he submitted them for their j 



correction to the order, and governance of the Five ports, \ 



yet I stand doubtfull whether hee made them partners of \ 



their priviledges, or no, for that had bene a preferment, '\ 



and no punishment unto them : but I suspect rather, that | 



his sonne king Edward the first, (by whose encouragement \ 



and aide, olde Winchelsey was afterward abandoned, and Winchelsey \ 

 the newe towne builded) was the first that apparelled them -^^'^^ builded. \ 



with that preeminence. '^''' \ 



By this therefore let it appeare, that Hastings, Dover, j 



Hithe, Rumney, and Sandwich, were the first Ports of j 



45 i 



