Here's a very brief history of the rise of royal naval activities from the Anglo-Saxon period to the Medieval era … these depended on where the overseas attacks were happening … north sea areas (Vikings, Angles, Danes etc); Irish Sea areas (Ireland, Isle of Man and Anglesey, Scotland); south coast (Vikings, Danes and Normans) …
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Sussex Coastline at Pevensey - c 340 AD (west from Smallhythe/Tenterden/Rye area) |
But in the next two hundred years or so … the necessity for trade ensured shipbuilding continued, as did the necessity because of the conflict with the nations of Europe … France, Flanders, Venice, Portugal, the Moors … as and when.
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Coastline c 1066 AD |
The Hundred Years' War (1337 – 1453) included frequent cross-channel raids … and this was when each king started to develop naval fleets.
Maritime activity has been found at Smallhythe from 1326 … probably wool trade related ... but the fast flowing river, the local oak forests, sloping shores provided all that was needed for early shipbuilding.
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Coastline before the storm of 1287 (Smallhythe's harbour is within that large estuary ... as shown) |
So the development of a shipyard, today four direct miles inland from the sea, actually probably seven to eight miles by water through the marshes, made such a business possible.
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Isle of Oxney - we could see from the house (the marshes are now all silted up - as agriculture took over) |
The ferry at Oxney was crucial for the important trading town of Tenterden three miles upstream from Smallhythe, which continued to operate into the mid 1600s.
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An illustration from the Anthony Roll (a written record of ships in the Tudor Navy {c1540} named after its creator Anthony Anthony) |
After Henry VIII visited in 1537 he commissioned further smaller vessels to be built for the nascence of 'the royal navy' … but with the ongoing silting up of the river and a major fire in 1515 destroying the settlement, its focus turned to agriculture …
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Pevensey Levels - similar landscape to that around Smallhythe |
I hope you can get an idea of the shipbuilding that occurred, as too the coastline changes that are shown in the various images …
This booklet gave me a lot of background about the history of Smallhythe, its royal connections to the development of the royal navy, and the coastal changes …
There'll be another one or two posts about my visit out to Smallhythe, but this gives an idea of the area that existed here from Norman times, to as we find it today …
Apologies that first image is blurry ... but I'm sure you can get the gist ...
Hilary Melton-Butcher
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