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Archery practice was compulsory for all men over 12 years of age in medieval and Tudor times. It is believed that Henry V’s archers practised on this site before sailing to France to defeat the French at Agincourt.
Sandwich was supplied with fresh water from a number of sources. This view was painted from the Butts, roughly opposite the cricket club. The houses in the foreground and the leat are still there
Victorian families on the Butts.
A medieval image of the Siege of Sandwich in 1457. The Butts made up the western stretch of the 13th- or 14th-century town defences. They consisted of a rampart bank fronted by a wet ditch, set on the flat land outside the walls west of the town.
Origins
The Butts formed the western stretch of the old medieval town defences, which may have been first built during the 13th or 14th centuries. There was never a masonry wall here but just a broad earthen bank. It was fronted by a wet ditch, known as ‘The Town Ditch’. The rampart extended for about 530 metres (0.3 miles) between the stone built Woodnesborough Gate in the south, and Canterbury Gate in the north. The Canterbury Gate was one of the main entrances into the town.
In medieval and Tudor times, the land in this area was used as an archery practice field. This is why it is called the Butts, the name being an old word for an archery shooting range. Because of the town’s history of violent raids, every man over 12 years of age would be expected to practice archery during his free time. The English longbow was a formidable weapon. Its arrow could pierce 10cm (4 inches) of oak. It is believed that Henry V’s archers practised here before sailing for France and their famous victory at Agincourt in 1415
Drainage and the town’s water supply
The Butts rampart runs across what used to be low-lying marshland. This needed a complex network of drainage ditches to keep the area dry. The town ditch forms part of this network. Flowing through the town, the Delf Stream brought fresh water into the medieval settlement. Additional cuts into the Delf were made later. South Poulders Stream brought fresh water from a spring at Woodnesborough, located about 2km (1.2 miles) to the south-west. At South Poulders Sluice, the stream connects with the Delf Stream waters and flows onwards to finally empty into the main River Stour near Guestling Mill on Strand Street. The mill is now divided into three separate homes. In 1538, orders had been given to demolish a watermill near Canterbury Gate because it was obstructing the flow of the Delf Stream into the Haven
Other buildings
Beyond the Butts lie the neatly-kept pitches of Sandwich Cricket Club. These are next to the Club House which has been established here for many years. Approaching the main road are some well restored cottages, behind which can be glimpsed the gardens of Manwood Court, built as a school during the 16th century. The land on the townward side of the Ramparts in this area is called The Beagrams. It is believed that this takes its name from one of the ‘Strangers’, Ioannes Beaugrand, who arrived in the early 1560s.
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