You may have already heard the story of the Anne, who in 1690, after being badly damaged during the Battle of Beachy Head, was deliberately run aground and burnt by her captain, John Tyrrell, to prevent the French taking her as a prize. Today her lower timbers remain preserved in the mud at Pett Level, where they can be occasionally glimpsed during very low tides.
What is believed to be the only remaining gun from the Anne, now lies in the garden of Winchelsea Museum, although how it got there is a bit of a mystery. Plans for a museum in Winchelsea began to take shape in 1950, so the 75th anniversary next year, seemed the perfect opportunity to finally display it properly. The plan is to restore the barrel and mount it on a historically accurate carriage, made from elm and hand wrought iron.
The Anne was launched in 1678, under orders of the then secretary of the Admiralty Commission, Samuel Pepys and, in 1687, she carried to Lisbon a German princess, Maria Sophie of Neuberg, as the new wife of King Pedro II of Portugal. King James II went on board her to check on her conversion as a floating royal palace. Subsequently, the Anne led a squadron of warships to the dangerous Barbary States of North Africa and was used in negotiations with pirates for the release of captured Europeans, who were being held as slaves.
It wasn’t long after her wrecking at Pett Level, that work began to retrieve any items of value, the most valuable of which were Anne’s 70 guns, these would have been undamaged by the fire. Teams of horses were used to drag the guns up the beach, and then transport them on wagons to Winchelsea. It is estimated that in total the guns would have weighed 120 tons and records show that a Joseph Bingham, received fifty shillings for every ton recovered, when certified by the mayor of Winchelsea. Once in the town, the guns were examined and tested, those that were in good condition were deployed to other ships, while those that were unsuitable, would have been returned to a foundry.
It seems that one gun, remained in the area, Charles Trollope an expert on these matters has identified the gun as a Saker, the Anne carried 14 of these guns, which were cast in Sweden. There is evidence that it has been buried upright, Charles speculates that having failed testing, the gun may have been used as a pivot to support another gun, on a battery that was constructed on Winchelsea Beach.
What happened to the gun next over the next two hundred years, we can only guess.
The restoration project is being led by Icklesham Parish Council, who are working with the museum and other organisations in Winchelsea. For the parish council, it provides a perfect opportunity to support the museum, which is such a valuable asset to their community. The council’s chair, Jacqueline Stanford first became involved with the wreck of the Anne, while a trustee at the Shipwreck Museum in Hastings, and several of the naval historians and contacts she made then, have now agreed to come back to help with this project. It is hoped that the restored gun and carriage, will be on display in the museum by next summer.
Of course to do this money will need to be raised, some has already been pledged by local organisations, and to raise further funds a talk about the Anne is taking place in Winchelsea Church on December 7 at 7pm. Speaking will be Richard Endsor, an engineer and artist, who has written a book on the Anne. And JD Davies, a prolific author that has written several books about the 17th century navy, and also a best-selling series of historical naval fiction, set in the restoration period, The Journals of Matthew Quinton.
It will be a great opportunity the find out some more about the Anne’s fascinating story and its importance in naval history and to the local area.
Tickets are £10 and all money will go towards the project. They can be purchased online at https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/winchelsea/st-thomas-church/the-warship-anne/2024-12-07/19:00/t-rpoalon
Image Credits: Richard Endsor .