Our community

Although it is an Ancient Town, Winchelsea is home to a modern community with a busy Town Diary and a full calendar of special events that take place every year, including the incredible Winchelsea Streete Game.

Civic affairs

With a unique heritage and special quality of life to preserve against the destructive pressures of the 21st century, the residents of Winchelsea are drawing up a Town Plan. This is a type of Parish Plan, also known as a Local Action Plan, setting out the community’s vision for the future and an action plan to implement that vision.
Winchelsea is part of Icklesham Civil Parish, along with the villages of Icklesham, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour, but there is a campaign for a separate Winchelsea Civil Parish to allow greater local democracy and more focus on local issues.
In the absence of an effective parish council, many issues of local concern in Winchelsea and other villages are tackled by residents' groups. There are numerous grassroots campaigns running in Winchelsea against, among other things, more mobile phone masts, street clutter and traffic speed.

Neighbourhood Watch

Winchelsea is blessed with a generally low crime rate, but we still need to be vigilant. There is a very active Neighbourhood Watch scheme in operation which has had several successes against burglars and other criminals. The Winchelsea Neighbourhood Watch also runs a No Cold Calling Zone within the citadel area, to deter cold callers and rogue traders.

Community Speed Watch

The problem of traffic 'rat-running' through Winchelsea is being tackled by a group of volunteers operating a police-sponsored Community Speed Watch scheme to monitor and report speeding vehicles. The drivers of reported vehicles receive a letter from the police asking them to desist from speeding. If they are reported again within a certain period, they will receive a second letter warning them that they may be targeted by the police and will be prosecuted if they are caught speeding. Winchelsea is the only village in Rother currently operating Community Speed Watch.

Winchelsea Emergency Plan

Winchelsea has prepared for a civil emergency by drawing up an Emergency Plan, which has been endorsed by the emergency planning team at Rother District Council, and setting up an Emergency Group to assist the community and emergeny services during a civil emergency.

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Winchelsea in numbers

Winchelsea is a village of 278 houses with a population of about 580 people, of whom, some 400 are registered electors. About 10% are aged 16 years or under, over 50% are retired or semi-retired, and about 20% are not full-time residents.

Community activities

There are an amazingly large number of clubs and societies in Winchelsea.

Community facilities

There are various community facilities in the village:

  • Winchelsea has a village hall, called the New Hall, which is available for public hire (£11 ph May-Sep; £13.20 ph Oct-Apr; plus £16 for use of the premises licence and £30 for the use of the audio system).
  • The parish church is St Thomas the Martyr (C of E). The nearest Roman Catholic church is in Rye (St Anthony of Padua). The Methodist Chapel in Winchelsea is no longer in regular use.
  • Winchelsea has a primary school, St Thomas’s, which is Church of England-aided.
  • There is a small museum about the former Winchelsea Corporation, which is open from May to September (10:30 to 16:30 from Tuesday to Saturday and on Bank Holidays, and from 14:00 to 17:00 on Sundays).

Winchelsea businesses

Winchelsea is very fortunate to still have a village shop, sub-post office, butcher, tea room and two pubs.
The village shop was rescued from closure in 2002 by the community and run as a community-owned business until it was bought by the new owner of the shop building (a retired hedge fund manager!) in May 2007. The community sold the shop at a profit and have the right to repurchase the business should the new owners lose interest in the business. The net proceeds of the sale will be retained by the community as a contingency fund for this purpose.
The post office was re-opened in new premises in 2005 (having been closed in 2000) in an initiative by the Winchelsea Community Office and run as a community-owned business. In 2007, it was also been purchased by the new owner of the shop and moved in 2008 to the building next door. The net proceeds of the sale have been retained by the community as a contingency fund to finance the repurchase of the business should the new owners lose interest. 
Attached to the butcher is a delicatessen and off-licence called Winchelsea Farm Kitchen. The business has also been bought by the new owner of the shop and post office.
The village tea shop ceased trading in March 2007, but a smaller facility re-opened in 2009 in the same premises but in a room behind the butchers. Don't try to get a cuppa after 4:30pm.

Memorials

Winchelsea's war dead are commemorated on the war memorial in the northwest corner of the churchyard, in the Church and in the Methodist Chapel. There is a Roll of Honour of some of those who served their country in the Court Hall.
In the church, above the three tombs along the north wall, there is the stained glass window commissioned by Lord Blanesborough and executed by Douglas Strachan to commemorate the tragic loss of the Winchelsea lifeboat, the Mary Stanford, and her crew of 17 local men on 15 November 1928. Dedicated by the Archibishop of Canterbury in 1933.