according to Tanner, it was a house of Grey Friars. In the Collect. Anglo-Minorit. P. 2. page 12. it is said to be the third house, in the custody of London, in the old cata logue of the Franciscan Order. After the dissolution, the site was granted, in the 36th of Henry VIII. to William Clifford and Michael Wildbore.
The municipal establishment of this town is the same as Rye and all the Cinque Ports, and still enjoys many privileges and exempt ions in common with the rest. The present Mayor, or Chief Magistrate, is Thomas Martin, Esq. From the circumstance of no limb or member being attached to Winchelsea, as there are to the rest of the ports, it mould seem that this town was formerly of greater importance than the other ports, not requiring any assistance to defray the expence of furnishing its quota of ships and men. Compared with what she was, her present situation is a melanchaly contrast, reduced to a village, containing about four hundred inhabitants, and destitute of all trade and commerce ; but still retaining the -
