Rye Harbour RNLI Station
The aincient town of Rye now stands approximately two miles from the English Channel.
Three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede Converge in the town, In medieval times, however it was almost entirely surrounded by the sea and formed part of the Cinque Ports confederation
Rye is officially a civil parish, but due to its historical importance and its long standing conections to the Crown it has been given the status of a town. During its history its association with the sea has included being involved with smuggling gangs of the 18th and 19th centuries.
Those historic roots and its charm make it a tourist destination, and much of its economy is based on that: there are a number of excelent hotels, guest houses, B&B’s and lots of restaurants that cater for all tastes and budgets, as well as other attractions, catering for the visitor.
There is a small fishing fleet that provides the towns fresh fish shops, One of which is located on the Rye side of Monkbretton Bridge on the road leading out to Camber.
Rye Bay Fish Shop
The shop is right on the fishermans wharf and is constantly being re-stocked with fresh straight from the boats mooring alongside.
Rye Harbour has facilities for yachts and other vessel including a slipway for launchiung pleasure craft, the slip also serves the Rye Lifeboat which has its station in Rye Harbour, the life boat station has a small visitors centre and a viewing gallery of the inshore life boat.
Just up the road is The Church of the Holy Spirit, Rye Harbour, home of the Mary Stanford Life Boat memorial, this stands in memory of the 17 crew who lost their lives in 1928 trying to rescue the crew of a sticken ship.
Mary Stanford Memeorial at Rye Harbour
The name of Rye is believed to come from Norman French “la Rie” meaning a bank. Medieval maps shows that Rye was originally located on a huge embayment of the English Channel called the Rye Camber, which provided a safe anchorage and harbour. Probably as early as Roman times, Rye was important as a place of shipment and storage of iron from the Wealden Iron Industry.
Rye as part of the Saxon Manor of Rameslie was given to the Benedictine Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy by King Æthelred and this was to remain in French hands until 1247.
As one of the two “Antient Townes” (Winchelsea being the other), Rye was to become a limb of the Cinque Ports Confederation by 1189, and subsequently a full member. The protection of the town as one of the Cinque Ports was very important, due to the commerce that trading brought. One of the oldest buildings in Rye is Ypres Tower, which was built in 1249 as “Baddings Tower”, to defend the town from the French, and was later named after its owner John de Ypres. It is now part of the Rye Museum. Rye received its charter from King Edward I in 1289, and acquired privileges and tax exemptions in return for ship-service for the crown. 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. It is still the only vehicular route into the medieval centre of Rye and is suitable only for light vehicles.
