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38 BYGONE SUSSEX.
" Before me on old ocean's pebbly marge, And marshy plains, upon a spacious bay, The mighty works of labour stand at large, When violence within this Realm had sway :
The antique castle glooms deserted now, A monument of wasteful war and pride, And Winchelsea upon its raised brow, That the vain shock of ages hath defied:
Before me Rye, once town of dignity, Stands like a falcon on its perched rock: Long may it view the everlasting sea, Forsaken of the waves, and brave the shock
Of fruitless Time, till in the fatal hour Oblivion shall our silver Isle devour."
The two towns are not difficult of access by the South-Eastern Railway. The traveller who alights at Winchelsea can, after rambling through its streets and lanes, pass through its ancient gateway, and proceed by the winding road to Rye. The ramble can be extended to Camber Castle and Rye harbour without difficulty. From the low-lying land may be seen upon the two hills which face each other the " Two Ancient Towns " of Winchelsea and Rye.
The older Winchelsea, where William the Norman landed in 1067 on his second arrival in this country, was destroyed by the sea, partly_m 1250, and wholly in 1287. The town was then removed to its present position, but the base of |
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