The History of Winchelsea

A town planned: the cellars of Winchelsea

One of the most notable features of Winchelsea is the number of well-built vaulted stone cellars (properly called undercrofts). The number is matched only in Southampton and Chester (but Chester’s cellars are built on a slope and are not truly subterranean, and many are not vaulted). Some 33 of Winchelsea’s cellars are still accessible and the existence of another 18 is known. From the amount of wine imported into New Winchelsea in 1300/01, it has been estimated that Winchelsea could have had as many as 70 cellars.

The cellars vary in size from 25 to 125 square metres, although the majority are in the range 30-50 square metres. The average cellar would hold over 120 hogsheads (6,300 gallons) of wine. All are well built (of Caen stone) and some are quite elaborate with decorative features such as corbelling. The cellars are entered by a wide flight of stairs giving easy access from the street and occasionally they also have a rear entrance. Some cellars have windows. As the cellars are subterranean, the windows had to open into stone-lined wells leading up to street level.

The design of Winchelsea’s cellars and the quality of their construction suggests commercial rather than domestic use. The principal commodity stored in the cellars is thought to be wine. The current theory is that the cellars, at least those with windows providing natural light and with decorative features, were used as part retail wine shop and part wholesale wine sales area. In cellars with multiple chambers, wine would have been stored in the rear chambers and sold in the front chamber. Wine bought in bulk was probably kept in warehouses down on the harbourside. The link between the cellars and the wine trade appear to be confirmed by the concentration of known cellars in the northeast corner of the town close to the port. Few cellars have been found around the Monday Market, reinforcing the view that the market square was for trading with Winchelsea’s hinterland.

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