A brief history of Sandwich, Kent, UK
The original Sandwich haven was a safe natural harbour for ships traveling between the continent and London, and by the eleventh to thirteenth centuries the town had become an important major port. Its wealth lead to repeated raids by the Danes and the French and the town protected itself with fortified walls and a great boom which prevented passage of ships up the river Stour.
The alliance between the other important ports of Hastings, Rye, Hythe and Dover lead to the formation of the Cinque Ports which in return for providing ships and seamen were granted many privileges and freedoms. Tax and toll free trading was permitted and the five towns had their own courts to deal with their own affairs. At their height only the Church and the Monarch were more powerful.
Many famous and important people have passed through the town, notably Thomas a Becket during his escape from Henry II and Richard the Lionheart on his return from the crusades. The Black Prince brought King John of France back as prisoner from his victory in Poitiers. Several Kings and Queens of England have visited, and Elizabeth the Ist was entertained in Sandwich to try to persuade her to help restore the harbour when it started to silt up and the towns fortunes went into decline. Sandwich is now two miles inland and the famous golf courses of Royal St Georges and Princes now occupy the once flourishing port.
Protestants fleeing persecution in the Netherlands and France settled after 1560 and introduced dyke drainage to permit market gardening, weaving and other skills such as clay tile making which give us our characteristic Kent peg tiles, as well as numerous dutch gabled houses. Sandwich became a peaceful market town though involved in emigrations to New England and in the Napoleonic wars. The haven was used again in 1914-18 when a secret port known as Richborough was built to supply the forces in France, and in the second world war provided accommodation for German refugees.
Now the port area has been developed as an impressive industrial estate housing the worlds largest drug company Pfizer as well as local companies. The lovely old town is enjoying new prosperity in association with the companys’ growth and tourism as Sandwich is arguably the most complete medieval historic town in England. The central conservation areas’ narrow twisting street plan remains essentially unchanged since the Domesday book, and visitors can enjoy the pretty little houses in their original layout.