The Friary remained in the Crown's hands until 1545, when it was sold to Thomas Goodwyn, with all its buildings and property, with the exception of the legacies definitely left for the masses for the dead. Thomas Goodwyn paid the large sum of £1,112.2.6 for the Friary buildings and contents. In 1646 we know that the Friary was owned by an Anthony Norton, who was a strong royalist and was much in trouble with the Corporation for his strong words against that body, as indeed, was also his wife. He owned not only the Friary but all the land to the north, up to the town wall, as well as other lands and houses in the town. In about 1711, Ralph Norton, a relation of the above, owned the Friary as well as Whitefriars, the house opposite.

The Friary Chapel, which was all that was left, the other buildings having been demolished and their stone used elsewhere in the town, acted as a store house for many years in the C19th and was in poor repair. There is a picture of it in about the 1880's in the Museum. In 1903, the then Vicar of Rye, the Rev. Howes, interested himself in the chapel building, and proposed its conversion into a Church House. It had been the Salvation Army Barracks for some time, but they had moved to their new Citadel in Rope Walk, now an Antique Shop. It was extensively altered by a syndicate of Churchmen, and was formally opened in 1905. After this it was used for many community events, especially during the last war, when dances were held here, and also films after the bombing of the cinema. In the 1950's it became the home of Cinque Ports Pottery, who still operate from the building.

Adapted from Vidler - A New History of Rye