Rye - the ancient Cinque port
Our short break finished in Rye. When it was an important sea port, (the sea entrance now having silted up over the centuries) Rye was affiliated with nearby Hastings which had a status of a Cinque port. We were looking for a couple of the things on this trip, firstly was Mermaid Street, because of it being an `old world` cobbled street. We were not disappointed. Obviously named after the Mermaid pub, it was an amazing street to stroll down.
A couple of photos of Mermaid Street.
In an alleyway leading to the rear of the pub, I took this image and also ....
.... saw this on the building at the rear. I wonder what it was saying! The Mermaid Inn is a Grade II listed historical inn. One of the best-known inns in southeast England, it was established in the 12th century and has a long, turbulent history. The current building dates from 1420 and has 16th-century additions in the Tudor style, but cellars built in 1156 survive. The inn has a strong connection with the notorious Hawkhurst Gang of smugglers, who used it in the 1730s and 1740s as one of their strongholds: Rye was a thriving port during this period.
St Anthony, Rye.This late medieval house was once the residence of a wealthy merchant. The building features a continuously jettied front elevation and has been restored in recent times.
This beautiful building was toward the bottom of Mermaid Street. So many it was difficult to know where to point the camera.
Rye Castle Museum (Ypres Tower) with gun platform.
Rye Castle is almost as old as Rye itself, and has remained remarkably unchanged since it was built. The castle was begun in the mid 13th century when Henry III ordered a fortified tower to be erected. The new castle was known as Baddings Tower.
In 1377 the town was badly damaged in a raid by the French. The invaders burned most of the town, but the castle was one of the very few buildings to survive. It was later used as a court hall until a dedicated courthouse was built.
In 1430 the Corporation of Rye sold the castle to Jean d'Ypres, a cloth merchant. As the name suggests, Jean was a native of Ypres, in France, but he owned several other properties in Rye. He sold the castle in 1452, just 22 years after he bought it, but his name continues to be linked to the castle to this day.
The castle passed through the hands of several private owners until the Corporation of Rye bought it back in the late 15th century. By 1495 it was being used as a gaol and court hall.
The next major change did not occur until 1837 when the Women's Tower was built adjoining the Ypres Tower. The Women's Tower housed four cells for holding female prisoners. Between the Women's Tower and the Ypres Tower was a prisoner's exercise yard, which has now been converted into a recreation of a medieval garden.
In 1891 a police station and cells were built so the castle was no longer used to incarcerate prisoners. The tower basement was then used as the town mortuary.
Parish Church of St Mary
The history that has passed through or near these churches - this one being no different. This is what feeds my interest so much! For almost 900 years the Parish Church of Rye, dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, has dominated the hill on which the old town stands. It has stood through good times and bad. In 1377 when the town was looted and set on fire by French invaders the church was extensively damaged. The roof fell in and the bells were carried off to France. They were recovered the next year when men from Rye and Winchelsea sailed to Normandy and took them back! In 1742 a murder took place in the churchyard when Allen Grebell was killed by John Breeds who mistook him for the Mayor. John Breeds was hung and his remains placed in an iron cage on Gibbets Marsh. Later this was moved to the church and later still to the Town Hall where it is to this day. The grave of Allen Grebell can be seen in the Clare Chapel.
The font which dates from 1845. It is a copy of the historically important font at St Peter’s Church, Newenden
A clipping from a 1930’s Newspaper regarding St Mary's Church clock. It gives an idea of this unique clock, and why so many people over the years look and photograph it. I believe the two gilded cherub are called the Quarter Boys, to indicate that the clock only chimes the quarter hour, and were added with its current face in 1760.
"The construction of the clock was begun in 1515 and finished in 1560. Apart from its great age, this clock is one of the most remarkable ever constructed. It took 45 years to build and cost, in all, the grand sum of £2.10s. It’s inventor, described simply in the parish records as “A Man of Winchelsea,” was paid the magnificent price of 6s. 8d. “for making and fitting the clock, in full settlement of his bargain…”
It is the only clock in England, and possibly in the world, with its pendulum swinging through the roof into the body of the church. Its machinery, which weighs several tons, occupies the whole of a large room. Its eight main cogwheels are each one and a half times the size of a large cartwheel.
A cottage in nearby Mermaid Street, takes its name from the Cherubs.
The "Landgate" (the only surviving one of four original fortified entrances to Rye) dates from 1329 in the early years of the reign of King Edward III. This monarch had made several grants to the town to aid in its fortification - it is still the only vehicular route into the medieval centre of Rye and is suitable only for light vehicles. It is described on the plaque attached to the building as having a chamber over the arch and two towers, although once there were gates, a portcullis and a drawbridge.
Seen on Rye Harbour nature reserve
In the late Anglo-Saxon era, the threat of Norse invasion was constant. For a time England had a Danish king in the person of Cnut (Canute) but after his death the Anglo-Saxon Edward the Confessor did his best to keep the Norse threat at bay.
The key to the security of the realm as Edward saw it was to control the English Channel. To this end he granted the ports of Sandwich, Dover, and New Romney, all in Kent, the right to keep all legal fees assigned in court cases. This was quite a profitable concession for the towns involved, and made them far more prosperous than most towns of similar size elsewhere in the country.In exchange, the towns agreed to provide ships and sailors for defense when required by the crown. To the original three ports were later added Hastings in Sussex, and Hythe, in Kent.
These five coastal towns made up the Five Ports (in Norman French the "Cinque Ports"). In the 13th century Rye and Winchelsea joined nearby Hastings and in the next century gained legal status as "Antient Towns", affiliated with the Cinque Ports.The need for defense was so great that a large number of other towns became allied to the major ports. Thus, inland Tenterden became an ally of Rye, and Pevensey an ally of Hastings. This 'coastal confederation' reached a total of 42 towns at its medieval peak.The ports took full advantage of their special legal status to spread their economic reach far beyond their local areas. Thus Rye battled fiercely with Yarmouth in Norfolk for control of the herring fishery on the Norfolk Broads.The fortunes of the Cinque Ports varied. Dover, with its excellent coastal harbour, prospered. Others fared less well. The sea receded over the medieval period, and rivers silted up, leaving Winchelsea and Tenterden totally isolated from the coast. Rye transformed from a coastal port into a river one, with subsequent loss of trade.
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