The corporation lost its remaining civil and judicial powers in 1886 but was preserved as a charity by an Act of Parliament to maintain the membership of the Cinque Port Confederation.

[2] Old Winchelsea was on a massive shingle bank that protected the confluence of the estuaries of the Rivers Brede, Rother and Tillingham and provided a sheltered anchorage called the Camber.

After the Norman Conquest, Winchelsea was of great importance in cross-Channel trade (acting in particular as an entrepôt for London) and as a naval base.

In 1281 Edward I granted a charter for a planned town, based on a grid layout, to be built on higher ground on the western edge of Romney Marsh and Camber Sands.

It then suffered French and Spanish raids during the Hundred Years' War (including the Castilian attack on Gravesend) until the 15th century and was hit by the Black Death.

In 1360 the town was sacked and burnt by a French expeditionary force, sent in an unsuccessful attempt to retrieve their King John II of France captured at the Battle of Poitiers four years earlier.

It also retains three of the four town gates and several original buildings, including the parish church, which is dedicated to St Thomas the Martyr.

The scale of the original plan for New Winchelsea can be judged by the site of the "New Gate", over half a mile outside the current town.

The Royal Military Canal built in the early 19th century as a defence-line against the highly anticipated invasion by Napoleon Bonaparte passes the eastern side of the town and connects to the river Brede.

Other survey and polling evidence suggest the residents of Winchelsea are in favour by a majority of up to 2–1, but that the remainder of Icklesham parish was against the idea by a wide margin.

Winchelsea railway station is located 0.75 miles (1.21 km) to the north in the Brede valley, on the Marshlink line between Ashford International and Hastings.