SANDWICH, a cinqueport and borough and market-town, having separate jurisdiction, locally in the hundred of Eastry, lathe of St. Augustine, county of KENT, 39 miles (E.) from Maidstone, and 68 (E. by S.) from London, containing 2912 inhabitants. This place, which appears to have risen into reputation upon the decline of the Portus Rutunensis, derived its Saxon name Sondwic, signifying a town on the sands, from its situation on a point of land which had been gained from the sea, on its retiring from that ancient port. It is by most antiquaries supposed to have been also the Lunden-wic, noticed in the Saxon chronicle as the principal place of resort for merchants trading with the port of London, and to have been at a very early period a place of considerable importance. In 851, Athelstan defeated a large party of the Danes, who had landed on this part of the coast, and destroyed nine of their ships; soon after which an army of those invaders landed from three hundred and fifty ships, and plundered this town and Canterbury and in 993, Anlaf, another Danish chieftain, arrived with a fleet of ninety sail, and laid waste the town. In 1011, a Danish fleet having landed at Sandwich, ravaged the coasts of Kent and Sussex, besieged Canterbury, massacred the inhabitants, and set fire to that city. In 1014, Canute, on leaving England, touched at this port, and set on shore his English hostages, whom he had barbarously mutilated; and subsequently, after being established on the throne of-England, granted the port of Sandwich, and all its revenues, to Christ Church, Canterbury, for the support of the monks, and partly rebuilt the town, which from this time began to flourish, and had attained such eminence as to be made one of the principal cinque-ports of the kingdom, by Edward the Confessor, who resided for some time in it, and, in 1052, fitted out a fleet to oppose Earl Godwin and his sons, who in the same year entered this harbour, whence they sailed for London. In the Norman survey Sandwich is described as a borough, held by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and as a fort rendering to the king the same services as Dovor, yielding then a rent of £50, and forty thousand herrings for the monks' food. In the reign of Henry III., the French having effected a landing, burnt the town, which, from the opulence of the inhabitants, was soon rebuilt in a more substantial manner, and obtained from that monarch the grant of a weekly market and other privileges. Edward I. fixed the staple-of wool here for a short time; and in the same reign, the monks of Canterbury, in exchange for other lands in Kent, surrendered to the king all their rights and customs in the town, with the exception only of their houses and quays, a free passage across the ferry, and the privilege of buying and selling in the market free of toll, which reservations were afterwards abandoned in exchange for lands in Essex, in the reign of Edward III. At this time Sandwich contributed to the armament destined for the invasion of France, twenty-two ships and five hundred and four mariners, and was the general place of rendezvous for the fleets of Edward, who usually embarked here on his several expeditions against that country. Richard II., in the seventh year of his reign, issued an order for en- closing and fortifying the town, which, from its naval importance, had become a principal object of attack with the French, who, preparing to invade England, had constructed a wall of wood, three thousand paces in length, and twenty feet in height, with towers at short intervals, to protect their troops from the English archers, which it was their intention to fix up on the coast after they had effected a landing; parts of this wall being found on board of two large ships which were taken in the following year, were used in strengthening the fortifications of the town. In 1416, Henry V., while waiting to embark for Calais, took up his residence in the monastery of the Carmelite friars. In the 16th and 35th of Henry VI., the French plundered the greater part of the town; which, however, in the reign of Edward IV., was in a very prosperous state, its trade having greatly increased. In 1456, the French made another attempt on the town; and in the following year, Marshal De Bre"ze landed a force of five thousand men, and, after a sanguinary battle, succeeded in obtaining possession of the town, which they plundered, and after setting it on fire, returned to their ships and escaped: it was soon afterwards pillaged by the Earl of Warwick, in his insurrection against the king. To guard against similar assaults, Edward IV. fortified the town with a wall strengthened with bastions, and surrounded it with a fosse, appropriating £100 per annum of the custom-house dues towards its restoration, which, together with the advantages of its haven, soon enabled it to regain its former prosperity; and its trade so much increased, that the net amount of the customs was £ 16,000 per annum, and there were ninetyfive vessels belonging to the port, furnishing employment to one thousand five hundred seamen. The harbour soon after this began to decay, from the quantity of light sand which was washed into it by the sea; and this detriment was further increased by the sinking of a large vessel at its mouth. In 1493, a mole was constructed, and many attempts were made, during the reigns of Henry VIII. and Elizabeth, to remove the obstructions and improve the harbour, but they were not attended with success; and so much had the trade declined in consequence, that in the eighth year of the reign of Elizabeth, there were only sixty-two seamen belonging to the port. The persecutions on account of religious tenets in the Netherlands drove away many artisans, who, with their families, sought an asylum in England; and Elizabeth encouraged the refugees, of whom not less than four hundred were settled here by letters patent, dated at Greenwich in 1561, to whom she granted two weekly markets for the sale of their manufactures. They introduced the weaving of silk, and the manufacture of baizes and flannels, bringing them in a short time to a great degree of perfection; and, by their industry and good conduct, they soon became a flourishing and opulent community. Among them were some gardeners, who, finding the ground favourable for the production of esculent plants, employed themselves in their cultivation, to the great benefit of the landholders; they also introduced the cultivation of flax, teasel, and canary seed, which are at present grown here in greater abundance than in any other part of Kent; and, shortly after their introduction, were propagated with success in every part of the island. The settlement of the Flemings tended greatly to compensate for the decay of the harbour, and sustained the prosperity and importance of the town. Elizabeth paid it a visit in 1573, and was hospitably entertained by the corporation for three days. In the reign of James I., the trade of the port had revived in some degree, and the amount of the customs was £3000 per annum; the descendants of the Flemish refugees had laid aside their original employment, and were intermingled with the rest of the inhabitants in the general occupations of the town. The town is situated on the navigable river Stour, about two miles from its influx with the sea, near the commencement of the Roman Watling-street, and is surrounded on all sides by a considerable extent of low ground; the houses, many of which are of very ancient appearance, are irregularly built; the streets are narrow, though some improvements have been effected under the provisions of an act passed in 1787, by which the town is paved, and lighted with oil: the inhabitants are amply supplied with water from the river Stour, and from a small stream which rises near the village of Eastry, the water of which is conveyed to the town by a canal, nearly three miles in length, called the Delf, which was constructed under letters patent granted in the 13th of Edward I. Considerable portions of the walls are still remaining, and till the year 1784 five of the ancient gates were entire, the only one now standing being Fisher's Gate, a plain ancient structure, facing the quay. A bridge of two arches, in the centre of which is a swing-bridge, to admit vessels to pass without lowering their masts, connects the town with Stonar and the Isle of Thanet. The port extends from the North Foreland, in a north-easterly direction, to eleven fathoms of water, six miles distant from the shore, and in a southerly direction to the head of the Goodwin sands, along which it continues for five miles to Sandown castle; in a south-westerly direction up the haven, and thence in a southerly direction to the quay at the mouth of the Gestling; including within its jurisdiction as a cinque-port, the ports of Fordwich, Sarre, Ramsgate, Deal, Walmer, and Stonar. The harbour is at present so much choked up with sand that only vessels of small burden can enter it with safety. The foreign trade is principally with Norway, Sweden, and the Baltic, for timber and iron; and the home trade with Wales and Scotland, m which corn, flour, seeds, hops, malt, fruit, &c., are shipped. The custom-house is a branch of that of Ramsgate, though the trade of this port is more considerable than that of the latter. Ship-building and rope-making are carried on to a limited extent, but there are no vestiges of the ancient manufactories. The market days are Wednesday and Saturday, the former for corn, with which it is abundantly supplied: a large cattle market is held every alternate Monday, and an annual fair on the 4th of December, which generally continues a week. By a succession of charters, of which the last was granted by Charles II., in the thirty-sixth year of his reign, the government is vested in a mayor, high steward, recorder, twelve jurats, and twenty-four common council-men, assisted by a town clerk and other officers. The mayor is annually chosen by the resident freemen; the recorder, who holds his office for life, is appointed by the mayor and jurats; and the common council consists of such of the freemen as have served the office of treasurer. The mayor and the jurats are justices of the peace within the town and liberties, and additional cinque-port magistrates are appointed, by act of parliament, for the several members of the port. Since 1437> the town has consisted of twelve wards, each of which is under the jurisdiction of a jurat, who appoints a constable and deputy constable. The freedom of the borough is inherited by birth, or obtained by marriage with the daughter of a freeman, by servitude, gift, or by the purchase of a frank tenement of the yearly value of £5. Among the numerous privileges enjoyed by Sandwich, as a cinque-port, is that of sending three barons to assist in supporting the canopy over the king at coronations; and when a queen consort is crowned, six are sent, who enjoy the favour of dining at the coronation feast, at a table placed on the right of their Majesties. The corporation hold courts of session, three times a year, for all offences within the borough, and have the power of inflicting capital punishment, which formerly was by drowning, a document being extant, of the date of 1315, in which a-complaint is preferred against the prior of Christchurch, lffor that he had diverted the course of a certain stream, called the Gestling, so that the felons could not be executed for want of water." The corporation also hold a court of record, for the recovery of debts to any amount; and a court of requests, for the recovery of debts not exceeding £ 5, is held by commissioners appointed under an act passed in the 47th of George III. The guildhall, usually called the court-hall, was erected in 1579, and contains, on the basement story, the several rooms for holding the courts, and on the first story, the council-chamber, and offices in which the public business of the corporation is transacted in the upper story are kept the ancient cuckingstool and wooden mortar, for the punishment of scolds, and arms for the train bands. All municipal elections, decrees, and ordinances, are made by the whole corporate body in a general assembly, held twice in the year at the guildhall, and convened, according to ancient usage, by the sound of a brass horn. The borough gaol and house of correction, a small and inconvenient building, having been found inadequate for the classification of prisoners, a larger and more handsome edifice is now being erected, which will afford the necessary convenience for this arrangement, and will contain a house for the gaoler, &c. This borough first exercised the elective franchise in the 42nd of Edward III., since which time it has regularly returned two members to parliament, who are styled barons: the right of election is vested in the mayor, jurats, and freemen, resident and non-resident, not receiving alms, of whom the number is about nine hundred: the mayor is the returning officer. The town comprises the parishes of St. Clement, St. Mary the Virgin, and St. Peter the Apostle, all in the archdeaconry and diocese, of Canterbury, and the extra-parochial liberty of the hospital of St. Bartholomew. The living of St. Clement's is a vicarage, rated in the king's books at £13. 16. 10., and in the patronage of the Archdeacon of Canterbury: the church is an ancient and spacious structure, combining various styles of architecture, with a massive central tower of Norman character, enriched with several series of arches of very fine composition; the interior has portions in the early and later styles of English architecture, and contains several monuments, and an octagonal font. The living of St. Mary's is a discharged vicarage, rated in the king's books at £8. 1., endowed with £200 private benefaction, and £200 royal bounty, and in the patronage of the Archdeacon of Canterbury: the church, an ancient building, consists of a nave, north aisle, and chancel, in which are some interesting remains of the early style; the south aisle has been destroyed. The living of St. Peter's is a discharged rectory, rated in the king's books at £8, endowed with £ 800 private benefaction, £200 royal bounty, and £1500 parliamentary grant, and in the alternate patronage of the Crown, and of the Mayor and Corporation; the church appears to have been originally in the Norman style of architecture, but, from frequent alterations, its original character is nearly lost among the additions which have been made of Kentish ragstone and flint: the south aisle was destroyed by the fall of the steeple, in 1661, but the latter was rebuilt with the materials of the former as high as the nave, and finished with bricks made from the mud in the harbour. There was formerly a chapel, dedicated to St. James, the cemetery of which is still used as a burial-place. There are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyan Methodists. The free grammar school was founded by subscription among the inhabitants, in the reign of Elizabeth, and in 1563, endowed with lands for its support by Sir Roger Manwood, then recorder of the borough, and subsequently Chief Baron of the Exchequer, who appointed the mayor and corporation governors; the revenue is about £37- 19. per annum, which is paid to the master, who resides in the school-house. Mrs. Joan Trapps, of London, in 1568, founded four scholarships in Lincoln College, Oxford, of which two are in the appointment of the Governors of this school, and two in that of the Rector and Fellows of the college, without any distinction of place; these scholarships were afterwards augmented with £ 3 per annum, by Mrs. Joyce Frankland. Sir Roger Manwood, in 1581, founded four scholarships in Caius College, Cambridge, in the alternate nomination of the Governors of the school, and the Master and Fellows of the college. A charity school, established by subscription, in 1711, and principally supported by the same means, is under the direction of the mayor and three trustees chosen from each parish: the rents for its support amount to £25 per annum, besides some bequests made in 1811 and 1817; eighty boys and sixty girls are instructed in this establishment on the National system. St. Thomas' hospital was founded, about the year 1392, by Mr. Thomas Ellis, a wealthy draper of this town, who endowed it for eight aged men and four women, each of whom, from the improved state of the funds, receives an allowance of £25 per annum. St. Bartholomew's was founded prior to the year 1244, when Sir Henry de Sandwich made a considerable addition to its original endowment; sixteen aged men and women, appointed by the mayor and jurats, receive a considerable annual pension, which, during the last lease, amounted to £ 52 per annum each, but is at present rather less. The buildings occupy a spacious triangular area, and afford healthy and pleasant dwellings for the inmates. The site is extra-parochial; and there is a small neat chapel attached to the charity, the mayor and jurats appointing the chaplain. St. John's hospital, supposed to have been founded about the year 1287, has been taken down, and six small houses have been erected on its site, for the reception of six aged men and women, who are appointed by the mayor, and receive each an annual sum of £20. Sir John Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, and author of the "Forest Laws;" and Mr. Richard Knolles, master of the grammar school, and author of the " History of the Turkish Empire," were natives of this place. Sandwich gives the title of earl to the family of Montague.