On Saturday, September 24, I became the first resident of Winchelsea to pay the King’s Dues to the chamberlain, Neil Clephane-Cameron. During the reign of her late Majesty the payment was referred to as the Queen’s Dues but is now retitled following the accession of King Charles III.
When Queen Elizabeth I visited Winchelsea in the late sixteenth century she was apparently horrified by the state of the town, by then in serious decline due to the silting up of the harbour and the loss of its function as a port. In an act of generosity, she not only granted land to the corporation but also passed on the income from her dues, this being a sort of ground rent paid to the monarch since Edward I purchased the land on which New Winchelsea was built.
Sadly, neither she nor her successors allowed for inflation, and today the King’s Dues, which apply to certain of the properties in the town, are the corporation’s only remaining fixed income stream, following its loss of revenue raising powers with the 1883 Municipal Corporations Act.
A saving to this act preserved Winchelsea as a head port of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports. Now a registered charity, the corporation voluntarily works to fulfil that representative function, as well as providing a museum and working to preserve a number of historic buildings within the town, including the town gates, the town well and the Court Hall.
The document listing the properties over which crown gave authority to collect the dues is held in the archives at the East Sussex Record Office dating from 1586. A framed print of the first page is on display in the Court Hall Museum.
Image Credits: Sandra Merrifield .
How much are the dues?
According to Winchelsea website 53 properties have to pay and £47 is raised so it looks like under £1 each household – although that would have been a lot of money in Queen Elizabeth’s time