The 1840 Sussex Directory claimed that Hastings was the head of the Cinque Ports Confederation before telling us it was a Corporate and Parliamentary Borough, demonstrating the importance still placed in the Cinque Ports heritage at that time, even though the Kent & Sussex fleet’s days of glory were well over by the time of the Spanish Armada, when just twelve vessels from the Cinque Ports were represented in Drake’s fleet. Continue reading Hastings – Cinque Port