Ruined Arch .Winchelsea Church. St Thomas The Martyr. Sussex, UK Editorial Image

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.