| Ships | Men | |
| Hastings | 5 | 96 |
| Sandwich | 22 | 504 |
| Dover | 16 | 336 |
| Romney | 4 | 65 |
| Hythe | 6 | 122 |
| Winchelsea | 21 | 596 |
| Rye | 9 | 156 |
| Seaford | 5 | 80 |
| Faversham | 2 | 25 |
| Margate | 15 | 160 |
Among the privileges of the Cinque Ports to which reference has been made there are one or two which point unmistakably to an early origin. One is the right of open-air assembling in portmote or parliament at Shepway Cross, and afterwards at Dover, where by-laws were made for the governance of the confederation, the regulation of the Yarmouth fisheries, and to give decisions in all cases of treason, sedition, illegal coining, and concealment of treasure-trove. The ordinary business was transacted in two courts, named respectively the Court of Brotherhood, and the Court of Brotherhood and Guestling. The formal installation of a newly appointed Lord Warden took place at the Breding Stone at Dover, also in open-air assembly. It is an interesting fact that these moots or open-air assemblies were summoned by the sound of a horn.
The Lord Warden, who is the chief officer of the Cinque Ports, combining therewith the governorship of Dover Castle and maritime jurisdiction as admiral of the ports, may be regarded as representing to some extent the ancient office of Count of the Saxon Shore, although the changes of time and the paramount importance of the Royal Navy in more recent times in the work of defending our shores, have tended to rob the office of much of its former importance. At the present time the actual duties of the post are confined to presiding as chairman of the Dover Harbour Board.
The freemen or “Barons” of the Cinque Ports are often mentioned in connection with this subject, and it may be useful to put on record the following precise account of the subject, written by Mr. Charles Dawson, F.S.A.
“A Note on the Titular Rank of the Barons of the Cinque Ports
“The Freemen of each of the Cinque Ports have from ancient times been termed ‘Barons,’ because they held their lands and privileges as joint Tenants-in-chief of the Crown, by fealty and special Military (Naval) Service. Their title was almost unique, in this sense, that as joint tenants of their Baronies they were not like the individual Barons of the Realm, but Barons-corporate.
“When summoned to the King’s councils, the Barons were addressed collectively by writ, a copy of which was forwarded to each Cinque Port.
“Simon de Montfort’s general summons to Parliament was addressed to ‘the Earls and Barons of the whole of the Kingdom and of the Cinque Ports,’ and in the year 1293 the Barons of the Cinque Ports claimed of King Edward I to be tried for their alleged delinquencies by ‘their Peers, Earls and Barons.’
“The title of Baron did not, of course, apply to every Freeman of the Cinque Ports in an individual sense, except so far as individuals represented, by election, the whole of their Combarons at each respective Cinque Port.