Seal of Sandwich 1238

Sandwich was one of the main Cinque Ports. It was a fief of the Archbishops of Canterbury and was used by Becket to make good his secret escape to Flanders after the council of Northampton in 1164. And also for his return from exile in 1170. The people of Sandwich were his men, and owed fealty to him.

Very likely in Becket's time it was involved in the North Sea herring trade, and the people of this region of England were Men of Kent. It always had many small boats, especially fishing ones, ready for cross-channel traffic.

In 1023 it is alleged that king Cnut granted the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury, the tolls of the port of Sandwich and all the landing place and water dues on both sides of the Wantsum channel [River Stour] along with half of any clothes, nets, weapons, iron, gold or silver found on the western shore of the Wantsum.

Sandwich [Sandvika] was an important channel port during the Middle Ages. For a very long time. however, the whole area has been silting up with sands, and the river channel of the long reach of the River Stour which led from the sea by Pepper Ness to Sandwich town is not as deep and wide as it once was. The land around Sandwich is low lying marshland liable to flooding, a kind of fenland, some of which has been deliberately reclaimed. For example there is the Monk's Wall constructed by the monks of Sandwich to reclaim land from the river and sea in the 13th Century. The port of Sandwich was known as Sandwich Haven [Portus Sandvicensis].

References

Open Research Library - Sandwich - The 'Completest Medieval Town in England'

King Cnut of England grants his crown and the port of Sandwich to Christ Church, Canterbury, 1023: Stowe Ch 39

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http://wikimapia.org/#lang=en&lat=51.274696&lon=1.338959&z=13&m=b&v=8&tag=46520&show=/5301893/Eastry

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http://goo.gl/XNi9hQ

Lydden Valley Research Group- Maritime History

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1023 - Charter for the Grant by king Cnut to Christ Church, Canterbury, the port of Sandwich.

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http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=63619

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William Boys (May 2010). Collections for an History of Sandwich in Kent with Notices of the Other Cinque Ports and Members, and of Richborough by William Boys, Esq F a S. BiblioBazaar. ISBN 978-1-140-81716-1.

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Town Plan of Sandwich 1787

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Sandwich

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Eastry

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Wantsum Channel

http://www.ecastles.co.uk/wantsum.html

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Richborough Castle

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/richborough-roman-fort-and-amphitheatre

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Isle of Thanet

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Medieval Thanet Archaeology
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