A history of the English Channel
- Follow the coasts and immediate hinterland of the south of England and the north of France.
- Conceived as a history of the English Channel, it visits many of the most famous sites in Anglo-French history.
- Also includes a variety of art, architecture, townscape and landscape.
Highway for migrants, merchants, invaders and travellers of all sorts, and barrier, moat, defence between two of the most cussedly independent and self-regarding nations in the world: the English Channel both connects and separates, attracts and repels.
While the history of ‘the Narrow Sea’ is a history of the people – and peoples – who have sailed across, in either direction and for whatever purpose, it is especially a history of the relations between the French and the English. Sometimes it is a history also of the inhabitants of all of Great Britain (occasionally with bit parts played by North American allies), and of the peoples and governments of Continental countries beyond France.
The journey leads from eastern Kent along the south coast of England as far as Portsmouth. Here you take ship to Normandy and, again hugging the coast, travel almost as far as Flanders before returning to London by train through the Channel Tunnel.
The tour deals primarily with history, not art history, with sites rather than sights; aesthetic and scenic merit is plentiful but incidental. Seeing the location of momentous events and understanding how the topography influenced the outcome adds immeasurably to an understanding of history. Familiarity with place can also be profoundly moving, and a tour which includes the battlefields of Hastings, Crécy, Agincourt, Dunkirk and D-Day is rich in emotional potential.
Most of the sights – and sites – are not military, though castles and fortifications do figure prominently. A Gertrude Jekyll garden, the finest Roman floor mosaics in northern Europe, the mother of all Norman churches, a window designed by Braque; bow-fronted Regency seaside architecture and fairy-tale elaborations of Louis treize style, towns and villages of exceptional charm, one-time ports from which the sea has receded and ‘progress’ has passed by: these are among the sights on offer.
Much is surprisingly off the beaten track, and we have sometimes opted for the less well-known – deserted Winchelsea instead of teeming Rye for example, old-fashioned Eastbourne instead of busy, trendy Brighton. Of course, the contrasts between France and England will be found fascinating, but there are surprising contrasts within each country as well.
The tour has been planned in collaboration with diplomat and historian Peter Unwin, author of an acclaimed book of the same title.