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town (1991 pop. 4,127), East Sussex, SE England, on the Rother River. It is a tourist resort and small port with boatbuilding and netmaking industries. Rye was one of the “ancient towns” added to the Cinque Ports. It had a thriving trade in the 17th cent. but decayed after the recession of the sea early in the 19th cent. There are remains of an ancient friary, a large Norman and Early English church, the 12th-century Ypres Tower, and the Thomas Peacocke school (1636). The dramatist John Fletcher was born in Rye.


 
 
Wikipedia: Rye, East Sussex
Rye
Rye, East Sussex (United Kingdom)
Rye, East Sussex

Rye shown within the United Kingdom
Population 4,600 (2001 census)
OS grid reference TQ918205
District Rother
Shire county East Sussex
Region South East
Constituent country England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Post town RYE
Postcode district TN31
Dialling code 01797
Police Sussex
Fire East Sussex
Ambulance South East Coast
UK Parliament Hastings and Rye
European Parliament South East England
List of places: UKEnglandEast Sussex

Coordinates: 50°′″N 0°′″E / 50.9524, 0.73

Rye is a small hill top town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, on the River Rother, and at the western edge of the Walland Marsh, part of the Romney Marshes.

The town's economy relies heavily on tourism because of its historical importance.

Notable buildings in the town include St Mary's parish church, the Ypres Tower (pronounced "wipers"), Lamb House and many of the houses on Mermaid Street, Watchbell Street, and Church Square.

History

The Ypres tower and marshes seen from the tower of St Mary's church, Rye.
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The Ypres tower and marshes seen from the tower of St Mary's church, Rye.













  • Rye received its first town charter under the Normans; and was fortified during the reign of King Stephen
  • Although not one of the original Cinque Ports, Rye had become one by the 13th century, providing nine ships to the federation
  • Rye lost its importance as a port when the coastline changed as a result of storms and long shore drift, and the town is now two miles (3.2 km) from the sea. It still has some trade and fish caught in Rye Bay is landed daily and sold from the quayside.
  • Sir Robert Naunton mentions it as the first place he visited in his book Travels in England, published sometime between 1628 and 1632. Daniel Defoe and William Cobbett also mention the town in the course of their travels.
  • Sir Anthony van Dyck did several drawings of the town, unusually detailed for him, and probably done to pass the time until a ship to the Continent arrived.
  • HMS Rye, a Royal Navy minesweeper, was named for the town during the Second World War.

The town of Rye is also known from the song "Thae Mary Stanford of Rye" by William Pint & Felicia Dale, which refers to a lifeboat lost off Hastings and Rye.

Historic buildings

There are many famous historical buildings in Rye, as follows:

  • The George in Rye - historic coaching inn dating from 1575

Famous residents

Lamb House
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Lamb House
Mermaid Street
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Mermaid Street

Although not consciously a "writers' colony", Rye has produced and attracted many writers.

Lamb House, one of the town's historic residences and now owned by the National Trust, has been home to:

  • Henry James (1843 – 1916), American novelist, resident 1898 to 1916.
  • E.F. Benson (1867 – 1940), English novelist. House and town feature prominently in his "Mapp and Lucia" novels, as Mallards House and Tilling.
  • Rumer Godden (1907 – 1998), Anglo-Indian novelist.
  • John Senior and Sarah Philo (Tenants 2005 - present), Writers

Other residents of the town and environs include:

  • John Fletcher (1579-1625), Jacobean playwright and solicitor.
  • Radclyffe Hall (1880 – 1943), seminal lesbian writer.
  • Russell Thorndike (1885-1972), who set his Dr Syn novels about smuggling on the marshes.
  • Conrad Aiken (1889 – 1973), American writer.
  • Joan Aiken (1924 – 2004), children's author, daughter of Conrad Aiken.
  • Philippa Urquhart (1940 – ), British actress.
  • Monica Edwards (1912 – 1998), children's author who lived at Rye Harbour and set her Romney marsh novels in the area, renaming Rye Dunsford.
  • John Christopher (b.1922), science fiction author. The 1980s British television series based on his trilogy, The Tripods, was filmed near his house.
  • John Ryan (b.1921), Although born in Edinburgh, this British Author/Cartoonist famed for his TV cartoon Captain Pugwash, is a resident of Rye.
  • Malcolm Saville (1901-82), author of nearly 80 children's books, largely thrillers and adventure stories. Saville was the creator of the Lone Pine series of books, a number of which were set in Rye, including The Gay Dolphin Adventure and Rye Royal.

Communications

Marshes, Rye
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Marshes, Rye

Road

Rye stands on the A259 coast road.

Bus

The 711 Stagecoach Bus runs from Dover to Hastings (and Hastings to Dover) via Rye hourly.

Rail

Rye has a railway station on the Brighton to Ashford, Kent "Marshlink" line. It was also the terminus for the pre-World War II Rye & Camber Tramway, built to serve golf courses and Camber Sands, a tourist beach.

It also has rail links to London via Ashford or Hastings. There are no direct services however.

Walks

The Saxon Shore Way starts at Gravesend, Kent and traces the coast as it was in Roman times, via Rye, as far as Hastings, East Sussex, 163 miles (262 km) in total.

References

External links


 
 

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Copyrights:

Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Rye, East Sussex" Read more

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