EVAN Morgan, active sailor and expert on medieval Kent, made his way into Sussex to lecture on the Cinque Ports to a full house of U3A members, on Monday at the Rye Community Centre, Conduit Hill.
The five Cinque Ports, plus the two Ancient Towns of Rye and Winchelsea, were granted generous tax relief and a measure of self government in return for providing medieval kings with ship service.
Soon the head ports appointed other ports to be t
heir limbs (Tenterden in the case of Rye) and share the burden of supplying the king with ships and men, in exchange for substantial tax and toll concessions.
By the 1600s the Cinque Ports had ceased to be an effective naval force for the king, and had become mainly ceremonial, although they carried on asserting their exemptions from local tolls and taxes right through to the 1830s.
The Duke of Wellington's 1835 Municipal Reform Act put an end to any claims for special treatment, although the Barons of the Cinque Ports still have, by right, a privileged place at any Coronation.
Rye U3A is submitting evidence to the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills on informal learning for adults, with special emphasis on how local organisations offering educational opportunities might be better supported.
A music group has now been formed to join sixteen other activity and learning groups; details of membership from Sheila Maddock on 01797 224418.
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