Cinque Ports Conference
Posted: Tuesday 7th April 2026
Event Date: 26 & 27 June 2026
Location: Dover
Organisers: Kent Archaeological Society Maritime Kent Group, the Confederation of Cinque Ports, the Maison Dieu, Dover District Council, Dover Town Council and Dover Museum
A major two-day conference on the history on the Cinque Ports at the Maison Dieu in Dover on 26 & 27 June 2026. The conference will look at the history of the Cinque Ports from the 13th century to the present day, including short talks by academics, historians and archaeologists exploring the role of the Cinque Ports in the defence of England, their governance and administration and the lives of those living in the Cinque Ports towns.
Tickets £30 for one day or £50 for both days - includes a buffet lunch and refreshments.
Delegates may also join special tours of the Maison Dieu and other historic sites nearby, as well as viewing displays of Cinque Ports artefacts and documents and finding out about the role of the Confederation of the Cinque Ports today.
Full details via this link: Cinque Ports Conference | UK Talk/Panel Discussion Reviews | DesignMyNight
Programme
Friday 26th June
9.30 – 10.00 Registration and coffee
10.00 - 10.20 Welcome
10.20 - 11.30 Session 1 - Administration of the Cinque Ports
Justin Croft – The custumals of the Cinque Ports c. 1290-1500
Sheila Sweetinburgh – Maintaining authority: the role of church and hospital in the Cinque Ports
11.30 Coffee
11.50 - 1pm Session 2 - Administration of the Cinque Ports
Rob Blackmore – Title: Maritime Predation and the Cinque Ports, 1450‒1640
Craig Lambert – The Cinque Ports, c.1320-c.1630: The Myth of Decline
13.00 - 14.00 Buffet Lunch
14.00 - 15.00 Session 3 - Tours
Maison Dieu Highlights tours
15.00 - 16.10 Session 4 - Defence and the Royal Navy
Susan Rose – ‘That we bee maysteres of the narowe see’ Did the successful implementation of this policy by English medieval monarchs depend on the ships of the Cinque Ports?
Chris Ware – `The Wealth Safety and Strength of this Kingdome is soe much concerned’ - Articles of War, 1661
16.10 - 16.30 Coffee
16.30 - 17.40 Session 5 - Defence and the Royal Navy
Andrew Lambert – Dover and the Duke: Shaping Grand Strategy, 1815-1914
Andy Plumbly – The Naval Brewhouse at Dover - a well-kept secret
17.40 - 18.00
Closing remarks and response
18.30 - 20.00 Evening Reception (ticket cost £15.00)
Speeches and live music. Welcome drink and canapes included.
Saturday 27th June
9.30 – 10.00 Registration and coffee
10.00 - 10.20 Welcome
10.20 - 11.30 Session 1 – Cinque Ports Maritime Communities
Gillian Draper – ‘ People and Places : the Cinque Ports, London and other connections’
Claire Bartram – “We are both friends to Dover Harbour”: Scripting Performances of Community in late Elizabethan Dover
11.30 Coffee
11.50 - 13.00 Session 2 – Cinque Ports Maritime Communities
David Carpenter – Hubert de Burgh castellan of Dover, earl of Kent and saviour of England
James Lloyd - "The Runaway Armorial of the Constables of Dover"
13.00 - 14.00 Buffet Lunch
14.00 - 15.00 Session 3 - Tours
Maison Dieu Highlights tours
15.00 - 16.10 Session 4 – Cinque Ports Maritime Communities
Daisy Turnbull – A wreck! A wreck!’, 19th-century Coastal Cultures of the Cinque Ports and their Shipwreck Shore
Jon Iveson – The early modern history of Dover harbour
16.10 to 16.50
Closing remarks and response
Image - By Keith Edkins, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46283737
