Cinque Ports Castle, and whilst this office exists today, it is now a purely honorary title, with an official residence at Walmer Castle. The town of Hastings was the head port of the Cinque Ports in mediaeval times. The towns also had their own system of courts. All Freemen of the ports, termed "portsmen", were deemed in the age of Feudalism to be barons, and thus members of the baronage entitled to attend the king's parliament - a privilege granted in 1322 in recognition of their earlier support of the Despensers, father and son. Termed "Barons of the Cinque Ports", they reflected
Deal Castle of Dorset, Lionel Sackville and there may have been some competition between the two men. The keep was redesigned with medieval-style battlements and wood-panelled accommodation at the rear overlooking the sea; the porter's lodge was also updated. During the Napoleonic Wars, the castle was armed with nine 36-pounder guns, supported by further artillery batteries placed along the beach. To protect Deal, units of infantry and cavalry, called fencibles, were formed in 1794 by William Pitt the Younger – then both the Prime Minister and the Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports – and in 1802 units of bombardiers recruited by