Cinque Ports
The privileged position enjoyed by the freemen of the Cinque Ports had been established since the twelfth century, and by the fourteenth the original ‘head Ports’ – Dover, Hastings, Sandwich, Hythe and New Romney – had been joined by the ‘ancient towns’ of Rye and Winchelsea, each afforded equal standing. Other towns and villages became ‘limbs’ of the Ports and their freemen shared some of the responsibilities and privileges (if not the political importance) of those of the principal members of the federation.