Winchelsea Church. St Thomas The Martyr. Sussex, UK Editorial Photo

The first recorded mention of the church of St. Thomas in Old Winchelsea came in 1215.The town was then a flourishing seaport on the shingle, but in 1250 it was battered by a phenomenally high tide which ‘flowed twice without ebbing with a horrible roaring and a glint as of fire on the waves.’ Thirty-seven years later further floods virtually destroyed the town and changed the course of the River Rother.When Old Winchelsea was washed away, King Edward I wasted no time in finding a safer site on the hilltop of Iham, where the present town and its church still stand.The town was planned on a gridiron pattern with the church occupying a dominant two-acre site near the centre. It was planned on a grand scale and work started in 1288 to erect a magnificent Gothic edifice, with a chancel and choir, two side chapels, a central tower, transepts and a great nave.