Smallhythe over the centuries ... coastline changes, shipyard building ...

 

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) …

Sussex Coastline at Pevensey - c 340 AD
(west from Smallhythe/Tenterden/Rye area)

...from the 9^th century (1000 AD) onwards the English nations developed their naval skills, and we know what happened after 1066 AD … but then it appears that fleet mustering almost ceased to exist, possibly because of William the Conqueror's acumen …

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.

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.

Coastline before the storm of 1287
(Smallhythe's harbour is within that large
estuary ... as shown)

It is estimated that the River Rother at Smallhythe in Medieval England, during the 1300s, had a depth of about 6.5 metres (21 feet) at high tide, to 2 metres (6.5 feet) at low tide – enough for the largest vessels of the day.

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.

Isle of Oxney - we could see from the house
(the marshes are now all silted up - as
agriculture took over)

Across the marshes and in the Pevensey Levels there are many islets, as you'll see here at Smallhythe – the Isle of Oxney is a relatively large island in the Rother Valley – ferry crossings were essential, before bridges and turnpikes started to appear.

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.

An illustration from the Anthony Roll (a
written record of ships in the Tudor Navy 
{c1540} named after its creator
Anthony Anthony)

The importance of Smallhythe as a shipbuilding centre was at its zenith in the 1400 - 1500s … with three kings placing work there in this era – Henry V, Henry VII and Henry VIII …

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 …

Pevensey Levels - similar landscape to
that around Smallhythe

The coast line along the Sussex and Kent counties (as we know them today) was and is always changing, with the tides and storms … the Great Storm of 1287 hit the south coast with such ferocity that whole areas of coastline were redrawn …

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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