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The Look Out |
This is probably one of the best views of Rye,
over two miles away, crowned by St Peter's church.
When Winchelsea was new, the Lookout and all the
walls nearby were crowded with folk including Queen Phillipa of England
drawn to watch the great battle of the Spaniards at Sea, when the English
fleet under Edward Ill met their foes off Dungeness and the fight drifted
into Rye Bay. On the English side were men, heroes of Crecy and Poitiers,
- Bohun, Lancaster, Salisbury, Warwick, Manny, Chandos, the Black Prince
- and for the numbers of enemy vessels captured, this "Sea Battle of Winchelsea"
came near to rivalling Trafalgar itself.
Not far to the right of Rye Town stands Camber
Castle, built by Henry VIII on what was then a spit of land jutting into
the sea. It could control the harbour of Rye and the entrance to Camber,
now a faint depression and a narrow creek behind Rye Golf Course, but
then a wide channel that was the main anchorage for ships sheltering or
preparing to warp into the narrower water of Rye port. The central tower
of the castle was built about 1490 and the remainder about 1539. The castle
was dismantled about 1650 and left to decay.
Further south again, among the houses of Winchelsea
Beach is the remains of the 18th century "cut" and new port of Rye, which
took sixty years to build and was open for less than two. The ends of
the old stone jetties may still be seen in the shingle at Dogs Hill.
Almost at the foot of the hill is the Grand Military
Canal. Constructed during the Napoleonic Wars it runs right round Romney
Marsh from Fairlight to Hythe. 
This
was the recognised position for the look out man in the days of the French
wars. From here you can see the whole of Romney Marsh. In the middle is
Dungeness, at whose roots is the town of Lydd. On the skyline are Dungeness
Lighthouse and the Nuclear Power Station. On exceptionally clear days
it is possible to see the tops of the downs at Boulogne while, on clear
dark nights, just before rain, the French coastal lights show up from
Cap Griz Nez to Etaples.
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