By Sheila Maddock
with line drawings by Brian Hargreaves 

Mermaid Street

A Poor Quarter

This look at Mermaid Street is based on data from the 1891 census. It is known that at this period Mermaid Street was a run down area, and the fact that it led directly up from the Strand which was the main port area of the town suggests it may well have been a rather disreputable street at times. It was still a run down area well into the twentieth century. A couple living there in two rooms in the fifties talked about the rats. 

Children

Mermaid Street School (Drawing by Brian Hargreaves)

Looking at the 1891 census, one of the most striking things was the number of children present, in contrast with Mermaid Street today where there are no children living permanently. There were a total of 70 children living in the street, 54 attending school and the others under school age. 

The 1891 education act had finally made schooling free, so most of the school age children are listed as scholars, and although there were many small private schools in the town, the majority of these poorer children would have gone to one of the two ‘Board Schools’ in either Mermaid Street or Lion Street.

The school in Mermaid Street had been built as ‘The Mermaid Street National School’ in 1867, (the date can still be made out on the Mermaid St wall of the building, picked out in coloured brick) and at that time took both boys and girls, but by 1891 the girls and infants went to the school in Lion Street (then known as Red Lion Street), and the Mermaid Street school took boys.  

Washerwoman at work Mermaid Passage c1890

OccupationsThere were 42 households listed in Mermaid Street itself (with a total of 199 people) and another 8 households in Mermaid Yard (with 31 people). What sort of work were these people doing? There were seven men listed as sailors or fishermen, and six men working as ship builders/repairers. There may also have been some men absent at sea, as in some households the head of household was not present.  

The largest category of employment was ‘general labourer’ which presumably means men who would work at whatever offered itself at different seasons. Other trades mentioned included John Reeves, a miller, Walter Hopper a baker who worked for John Reeves, and William Phillpott, a shoemaker.  

Among the women common occupations were needle woman and laundress. Selina Hall, Frances Talland and Edith Palmer were dressmakers and Catherine Paine, Lydia Hollands and Eliza Stone were laundresses. The laundresses may have worked on their own account, but by this stage there were commercial laundries where they may have been employed. There were several people of both sexes working as servants.  

The Wealthy

Jeake's House

There were a few more affluent people listed, including a wine and spirit merchant, Henry Pepper, who had two servants. Henry Pepper lived in what is now called the First House (1 Mermaid Street) with his wife and baby son. Sadly, even among the more affluent, the mortality rate was high, and within five years both Henry and his wife had died.  

The First House has an interesting history. It was originally built by the Lambs, and was part of the Lamb House complex, possibly used as offices. It was rented out by the 1840s, and was eventually sold at auction in 1883, together with various other lots of Lamb property, including Lamb House.  

Number 4, one of the other large houses in Mermaid Street, was occupied by Edgar Stonham, a corn merchant, and his wife and servants.  

Jeake’s House, further down the street, has a particularly interesting history. For a separate article on Jeake’s House  click here.    

There are also six people listed as living on own means, but these means may have been quite limited, as they were mainly elderly women living in with their family.  

The Mermaid

The Mermaid Inn is not mentioned in the census, as it was not functioning as an inn at this period, and was let as lodgings. Interestingly, It had been an inn from 1600 and probably much earlier–the cellar is probably 13th century and there are many traces of Tudor work in the building. It was a favourite of smugglers, in particular the Hawkhurst Gang. But from the mid 1700s it declined and became tenements  

In a book published in 1877 the author, Louis Jennings, describes visiting Rye and asking for the Mermaid Inn. Most people had never heard of it, and eventually he finds ‘an ancient man’ who shows him where it used to be. The inn had been closed at that stage for many years, and ‘a labouring man’ was living in it.  The Mermaid had resumed its function as an inn by the time of the 1901 census.  

Hartshorn House c1870

This 16th century house is just  below the Mermaid Inn and its state  at  the end of the 19th century as indicated in the photo probably indicates  the state  of the  Mermaid Inn at the same time.    Hartshorne House had been  the residence of Samuel Jeake II. It was part of the dowry brought by his wife Elizabeth on their marriage in 1670 and was then one of the town’s finest  homes.  (A separate article on the Jeake family is forthcoming.) 

In the earlier part of the 19th century the house was used as a hospital for Napoleonic War victims–perhaps one reason for its sorry state.  Fortunately, this house, like the Mermaid Inn,  was  restored just in time . 

Where People Came From

Most of the people in Mermaid Street at this time were born either in Rye, or in nearby villages in Kent and Sussex, but there were also people from elsewhere. Fisherman William Batchelor who was born in Rye, had a wife from Cornwall. Perhaps he met her on a sea voyage to the West Country.  

However the most travelled person in the Street was a Harriett Bradley, who was born in Hampshire, and had seven children, each one born in a different county. These included Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Pembrokeshire, with the youngest being born in Rye. As her husband was not present on the night of the census, there was no information about his occupation.  The 1881 census shows the family living in St Ives (Huntingdonshire) and reveals that Harriett’s husband William was a Wesleyan minister, explaining why his family had moved every couple of years.  

So the picture that emerges of the street at this date is of a bustling area full of children, with a few wealthier people living among the poorer majority, rather than being segregated from them.  

By Sheila Maddock

Poor Quarter

This look at Mermaid Street is based on data from the 1891 census. It is known that at this period Mermaid Street was a run down area, and the fact that it led directly up from the Strand which was the main port area of the town suggests it may well have been a rather disreputable street at times. It was still a run down area well into the twentieth century. A couple living there in two rooms in the fifties talked about the rats.

Children 

Mermaid Street School (Drawing by Brian Hargreaves)

Looking at the 1891 census, one of the most striking things was the number of children present, in contrast with Mermaid Street today where there are no children living permanently. There were a total of 70 children living in the street, 54 attending school and the others under school age.

• The  school in Mermaid Street had been built as ‘The Mermaid Street National School’ in 1867,  (the date can still be made out on the Mermaid St wall of the building, picked out in coloured brick).
• At that time the school took both boys and girls, but by 1891 the girls and infants went to the school in Lion Street (then known as Red Lion Street), and the Mermaid Street school took boys.

There were 42 households listed in Mermaid Street itself (with a total of 199 people) and another 8 households in Mermaid Yard (with 31 people).    What sort of work were these people doing?

• There  were seven men listed as sailors or fishermen, and six men working as ship builders/repairers. There may also have been some men absent at sea, as in some households the head of household was not present.
• The  largest category of employment was ‘general labourer’ which presumably means men who would work at whatever offered itself at different seasons.  Other trades mentioned included John Reeves, a miller, Walter Hopper a baker who worked for John Reeves, and William Phillpott, a shoemaker.

Washerwoman at work Mermaid Passage c1890

• Among the women common occupations were needlewoman and laundress. Selina Hall, Frances Talland and Edith Palmer were dressmakers.Catherine Paine, Lydia Hollands and Eliza Stone were laundresses. The laundresses may have worked on their own account, but by this time there were commercial laundries where some may have been employed.
• There were several people of both sexes working as servants.

The Wealthy

• The First House has an interesting history. It was originally built by the Lambs, and was part of the Lamb House complex, possibly used as offices. It was rented out by the 1840s, and was eventually sold at auction in 1883, together with various other lots of Lamb property, including Lamb House.
• Number  4, one of the other large houses in Mermaid Street, was occupied by  Edgar Stonham, a corn merchant,  and his wife and servants. There are also six people listed as living on own means, but these means may be quite limited, as they were mainly elderly women living in with their family. 

The Mermaid

The Mermaid Inn is not mentioned in the census, as it was not functioning as an inn at this period, and was let as lodgings. Interestingly, it had been an inn from `600 and probably much earlier–the cellar is probably 13th century.

 Interestingly, It had been an inn from 1600 and probably much earlier–the cellar is probably 13th century and there are many traces of Tudor work in the building.  It was a favourite of smugglers, in particular the Hawkhurst Gang.  But from the mid 1700s it declined and became tenements.

• In a book published in 1877 the author, Louis Jennings, describes visiting Rye and asking for the Mermaid Inn. Most people had never heard of it, and eventually he finds ‘an ancient man’ who shows him where it used to be. The inn had been closed at that stage for many years, and ‘a labouring man’ was living in it.
• The Mermaid had resumed its function as an inn by the time of the 1901 census

Hartshorne House 

 16th century Hartshorne House is just  below the Mermaid Inn and its state  at  the end of the 19th century as indicated in the photo probably indicates  the state  of the  Mermaid Inn at the same time.    

• Hartshorne House had been  the residence of Samuel Jeake II. It was part of the dowry brought by his wife Elizabeth on their marriage in 1670 and was then one of the town’s finest  homes.  (A separate article on the Jeake family is forthcoming.) 
• In the earlier part of the 19th century the house was used as a hospital for Napoleonic War victims–perhaps one reason for its sorry state.  Fortunately, this house, like the Mermaid Inn,  was  restored just in time . 

Where People Came From

• Most of the people in Mermaid Street at this time were born either in Rye, or in nearby villages in Kent and Sussex, but there were also people from elsewhere. Fisherman William Batchelor who was born in Rye, had a wife from Cornwall. Perhaps he  met her on a sea voyage to the West Country.

• However the most travelled person in the Street was a Harriett Bradley, who was born in Hampshire, and had seven children, each one born  in a different county. These included Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Pembrokeshire, with the youngest being born in Rye.  As her husband was not present on the night of the census, there was no information about his occupation.

• The 1881 census shows the family living in St Ives (Huntingdonshire) and reveals that Harriett’s husband William was a Wesleyan minister, explaining why his family had moved every couple of years.

So the picture that emerges of the street at this date is of a bustling area full of children, with a few wealthier people living among the poorer majority,  rather than being segregated from them.

These are old photos of  what we now know as Watchbell Street,  the south side of Church Square and Pump Street.  Can you recognse where the photos were taken and say  what changes have occurred since?

News Flash

They’re out!  The two new books on Rye before 1660–the result of years of research,deliberately complementary,  must-haves for anyone seriously interested in Rye’s history.  Both available from Martello Bookshop–or ask at the Rye Library.    (We’ll be using them to update some of our information!)

Gillian Draper, Rye: A  History of a Sussex Cinque Port to 1660, Chichester: Phillimore, 2009

David and Barbara Martin, Rye Rebuilt: Regeneration and Decline Within a Sussex Port Town, 1350-1660. Romney Marsh Research Trust, 2009

Events

We’ve had two good November events:   a craft fair in collaboration with the Creative School  and a fascinating talk on the Black Death by Imogen Corrigan.    The year isn’t finished yet!   Be sure these four events are in your diary:

November

Annual Christmas Craft Fair
Saturday, November 28th  10:00 – 4:00

There will be heaps to buy for special Christmas gifts.   Mulled wine, tea, coffee and cake will be served. Entry is free.

December

Saturday, 5th December:    Christmas Grotto 

Meet Santa!   Starting time to be announced

Tuesday, December 8th  East Street   7:30   Monica Janssen
Ten Beds that Made History

Local author and play director Monica Janssens has written another book. this time  about Beds in Historyand will share what she has learned about ten of them in this talk at the Museum.

Saturday 12th December    10:30 – 12:30
Coffee Morning

Winter Opening Hours   

East Street site:   Closed for visits  until April when there will be several new exhibits. However,  as indicated above there will be a number of special events during the winter season.  

Ypres Tower:  Open 10:30 – 3:30 on Saturdays and Sundays

Rye Town Council at its meeting of 26th October voted to contribute £5000 to the Women’s Tower Project! The process has begun:  English Heritage approved plans,  proper recording, preservation and storage of items kept in the Women’s Tower…..  We are most fortunate to have the  services of Linden Thomas,  a  professionally qualified and experienced  conservator,  recently retired to  Rye, to carry out the important work of looking after the items we will want to display and ensuring they are properly documented.

If you too would like to be part of this project and have not received a leaflet providing details and a form, do visit either of the Rye Castle Museum sites or contact the Museum (01797-226728 or info@ryemuseum.co) You would have the satisfaction of knowing you had helped to save a special building of our town so it can not only be used by Ryers but also provide yet another attraction for visitors.

 Volunteers Welcome!

Members and friends,  including present and would-be volunteers, came up with many excellent ideas for Museum development and outreach at  a recent open meeting.   To mention just one outcome:   The Ypres Tower will be open seven days a week during the next season.    We have a splendid team of volunteers who act as stewards and carry out many other tasks but to fulfill all our aspirations we need to increase volunteer numbers.  For more information and/or to join the team, phone 0179726728  or email info@ryemuseum.co.uk     There are jobs for all who are willing!

Rye Museum Website   

The  Rye Museum website is one beneficiary of volunteer help  and we have embarked on an ambitious programme to add  articles and improve design.   Be sure to visit– and revisit.   Click on any of the Local History headings and you will be taken to a page headed by a list of subtopics already available.    The newest will always be on top.   Sample the lot, or click on one that interests you.     If you have talents or information on some aspect of Rye’s history you would be willing to share, please let us know!  jlfloydeltc@gmail.com

 With acknowledgement to  L A Vidler,  G S Bagley and Tony and Cynthia Reavell

Rye's Town Hall

The Town Hall is on the site of at least two earlier Court Halls. The first was burnt to the ground during the French attack of 1377.   Its replacement and the Market Place next to it were in such a bad state of repair in 1742 that the Corporation decided to pull them down.     The timber, tiles, lead and other materials were sold to the Mayor for £38.16s.

Architect Andrew Jelf designed the handsome Georgian Town Hall we see today.   His original scale model survives to this day in the attic room of the building  along with other relics of the past.  One of these is the Rye Pillory, last used in 1813 to punish a publican who had helped a French prisoner of war to escape.  It was placed on the beach so that during the punishment his face could be turned to the coast of France.

Pillory and gibbet cage with skull of John Breads

 The cupola of the town hall held the Jurat’s Bell which was used during Quarter Sessions; it was replaced in 1981 to mark the wedding of Prince Charles and Diana.  In 1974 when Rye ceased to be a Borough Council and became Rye Town Council,  the Town Hall ceased to be used as a Court Room, but Mayoring Day is still celebrated annually, when the new mayor throws hot pennies from the Council Chamber windows to the children below.   

With acknowledgement to  L A Vidler,  G S Bagley and Tony and Cynthia Reavell.

Jean Floyd

Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years:   1837-1901.  During that period there were seven censuses.   What follows is a decade by decade summary of what those censuses, together with contemporary reports and Rye histories tell us about Rye and its people.

1840s

• Children made up one-third of the population
• 6-10  persons in a household was normal
• Nearly everyone had been born in Rye or within a few miles of it
• Few children went to school 
• Lighting was by candle
• Everyone used outdoor privies—usually shared by several households
• Rye had more than 40 inns

1850s

• Gas lights lit the town
•  ‘Salad days’ of Rye shipbuilding (to1855). Rye vessels regularly featured in Illustrated London News
• Three trains a day to London. Railway replacing stagecoaches, barges, hoys
• One quarter of the population needing poor relief; soup kitchen feeding 1220
• Streets named and houses numbered by William Holloway (1859)

1860s

• Disastrous weather 1859-60: gales, shipwrecks, floods
• Ruined crops brought depression but fortunes rising by 1864
• Three local papers printed in Rye
• Entertainments:  plays, revival meetings, freak shows, recital/ concert evenings . . .
• Average life span: 44 years (National 40)

1870s

• A School Board for Rye; many children now attending school
• Rye Literary Society flourishing but farming and trade depressed
• Rye Agricultural Hall (now Rye Mews) built for stock, produce and annual show
• Rye Fawkes celebrations ‘a time of terror’
• Rye had 6 free public pumps to supply water to 470 unconnected houses
• Soup kitchen added to Ypres Tower

1880s

• An exceptionally high tide caused extensive flooding and a lingering smell of dead worms (1882)
• Rye’s trade mostly by ships from other ports but new fleet of barges a success
• School attendance compulsory (5-12)
• Huge town celebration for Golden Jubilee
• Rye Regatta revived: gala day for town
• Corporation dealt with public health, highways, water supply, fire brigade, street lighting, allotments . . . .

1890s

• Rye Golf Club founded and Rye and Camber tram opened
• Shipbuilding, industries at low ebb…
• …but tourism compensating; artists, antiquarians, architects, photographers…
• Soup Kitchen provided 6,400 loaves and 7,040 quarts of soup to the needy
• 2000 ‘Robin breakfasts’ for children
•  470 households connected to water

1900 

• Rye still working 200 cargoes a year. 
• Coal and Dutch cheese coming in.  Corn and oak going out
• Commercial electricity not yet to Rye
• Cheap beer and many inns: drunkenness and lawlessness —> 10 inns closed 1901
• Cattle still driven through streets to slaughter houses behind High Street

Much more to come!

November Events

Arts and Crafts Fair�
Saturday  7 November  10:00 – 4:00 East Street

Local artists and craftspeople (including some who work at the School Creative Centre)  will be displaying and selling thr work:   textiles, paintings, photography, sculpture, papier mache and cards, and much else.    Do come, browse and buy!  Light refreshments will be available all day.  Entry is free!

Tuesday, November 10th    East Street   7:30     Imogen Corrigan
The Dregs of the People Remain:  The Black Death and its Aftermath

After her successful talk on children in the Middle Ages,  Imogen Corrigan returns to tell us about the impact of the Black Death on people’s views of death and the afterlife.  A pertinent topic for Ryers as our Romney Marsh was profoundly affected.    Members £1.50    Non-Members £2.50, with light refreshments and a raffle afterwards and a chance to meet the speaker

Annual Christmas Craft Fair
Saturday, November 28th  10:00 – 4:00

There will be heaps to buy for special Christmas gifts.   Mulled wine, tea, coffee and cake will be served. Entry iree.

Winter Opening Hours   

East Street site:   Closed for visits  until April when there will be several new exhibits. However,  as indicated above there will be a number of special events during the winter season.  

Ypres Tower:  Open 10:30 – 3:30 on Saturdays and Sundays

December Events  

Saturday, 5th December:    Christmas Grotto 

Meet Santa!   Starting time to be announced

Tuesday, December 8th  East Street   7:30   Monica Janssen
Ten Beds that Made History

Local author and play director Monica Janssens has written another book. this time  about Beds in Historyand will share what she has learned about ten of them in this talk at the Museum.

Saturday 12th December    10:30 – 12:30
Coffee Morning

Women’s Tower Project Update

Rye Town Council at its meeting of 26th October voted to contribute £5000 to the Women’s Tower Project! The process has begun:  English Heritage approved plans,  proper recording, preservation and storage of items kept in the Women’s Tower…..  We are most fortunate to have the  services of Linden Thomas,  a  professionally qualified and experienced  conservator,  recently retired to  Rye, to carry out the important work of looking after the items we will want to display and ensuring they are properly documented.

If you too would like to be part of this project and have not received a leaflet providing details and a form, do visit either of the Rye Castle Museum sites or contact the Museum (01797-226728 or info@ryemuseum.co) You would have the satisfaction of knowing you had helped to save a special building of our town so it can not only be used by Ryers but also provide yet another attraction for visitors.

 Volunteers Welcome!

Members and friends,  including present and would-be volunteers, came up with many excellent ideas for Museum development and outreach at  a recent open meeting.   To mention just one outcome:   The Ypres Tower will be open seven days a week during the next season.    We have a splendid team of volunteers who act as stewards and carry out many other tasks but to fulfill all our aspirations we need to increase volunteer numbers.  For more information and/or to join the team, phone 0179726728  or email info@ryemuseum.co.uk     There are jobs for all who are willing!

Rye Museum Website   

The  Rye Museum website is one beneficiary of volunteer help  and we have embarked on an ambitious programme to add  articles and improve design.   Be sure to visit– and revisit.   Click on any of the Local History headings and you will be taken to a page headed by a list of subtopics already available.    The newest will always be on top.   Sample the lot, or click on one that interests you.     If you have talents or information on some aspect of Rye’s history you would be willing to share, please let us know!  jlfloydeltc@gmail.com

With particular thanks to Jo Kirkham  (Rye Parish Church), Parish Church Council of St Mary the Virgin, Rye (1289-1989 Welcome to St Mary the Virgin Rye) and Brian Hargreaves for his line drawing of  church from the southeast.

 The Early Years

The hill on which Rye stands has been dominated by the Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin for nearly 900 years as many ar artist has shown.    

Watercolour by W H Borrow

The Domesday Book, completed in 1086, implies that there was already a church  in Rye.   La Rie, as it was then called,  was  only a small fishing village, part of the extensive Sussex coast lands called Rameslie held by the Abbot of Fecamp  in Normandy, and the church would have been a Saxon wooden one on or near the site of the present church.  What we  know more certainly is that after the Abbot, William de Ros, came to look at his possessions in  1103, plans were made to build a stone church and a hospital at Rye.   

 By about 1120 the chancel and stone tower had been completed, and over the next 100 years transepts, crossing,  nave and finally two side chapels were added, reflecting the development of building styles: Norman (the chancel) Transitional and Early English (arches of the nave).

Church abuilding

The church was built by local men, under the supervision of master masons and craftsmen from the Abbey.  The basic design has survived, but over the centuries the church has been enlarged, attacked and ravaged by fire,  repaired and altered many times, both inside and out. 

  The church has sometimes been called The Cathedral of East Sussex. The reason it was built on such a grand scale is that Rye was becoming an important member of the Cinque Ports Confederation–towns which were allowed a fair degree of self-government in return for supplying the king with a navy.  The Federation was important even before Henry III regained possession of  Rameslie lands in 1247 by exchanging them for lands in Gloucesteshire and Lincolnshire,  away from the coast.  He wished to prevent this coastal area from being used as a base for invasion as it had been in 1215 when Louis, Dauphin of France, landed at Rye without much resistance.  (One part of the reclaimed land is still known as ‘Rye Foreign’.) 

1377 Disaster

The worst disaster to befall the church occurred in 1377 when the town was looted and set on fire by French invaders and the church was extensively damaged.  The roof fell in and the church bells were stolen and taken off to France.  Resistance by Ryers seems to have been feeble and some of the leading inhabitants who survived the incident were subsequently hanged and quartered as traitors by order of the Mayor and the King’s Bailiff.

However, the next year the men of Rye and Winchelsea retaliated by sailing to Normandy, setting fire to two towns and recovering much of the loot, including the church bells. One of these was hung in Watchbell Street to give warning of any future attack; it was only returned to the church in the early 16th century. 

Change and Decay

During the Reformation in the 16th century the interior of the church was stripped of its rood (cross), images and ornanemts and much of the church property in the form of land was confiscated. In the reign of Queen Mary (1553-58), the roodloft and ornaments were restored but, on the accession of Queen Elizabeth I in 1558 , the churchwardens dutifully removed them again.

From 1562 Rye willingly gave shelter to large numbers of Huguenots fleeing from persecution in France and in 1582 there were over 1500 people of French extraction living in the town, whose total population was about 3500. For a time they had their own ministers and held their own services in the church but, by the end of the century, they attended the ordinary services.  In 1685 a further 50 Huguenot families arrived after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.  Some of the Huguenots’ descendants worship in the church to this day.

On the whole, the inhabitants of Rye seem to have accepted civil and religious changes with equanimity and to have attended whatever form of service was offered in their parish church. However, the long series of religious quarrels and the loss of church revenues did lead to the neglect and decay of the building and in the late 17th centurhy the chancel was said to be ‘very ruinous’.

In 1701 the vicar and churchwardens petitioned the king for financial assistance, saying that the church was so ruinous that people were afraid to attend services.  In the end, enough money was raised to complete the most essential work by the end of 1703.

Some thirty years later major repairs were again undertaken and in the ensuing years the churchwardens were constantly patching the roof and dealing with minor repairs.

The Many Uses of the Church

There were no pews or seats in the church in the early days and the church was used for everyday activities as well as for religious purposes including dramatic performances of Bible stories.  In Tudor times the Resurrection Play was performed a Easter and in 1523 a shilling was paid ‘for a coate made for him that in  playing represented the part of almighty god’ and ‘ three shillings and fourpence for making the stage’.

By the middle of the 16th century when more services were taking place in the nave than in the chancel, the north and south chancels were cut off from the main building.  In 1569 the town’s guns and gunpowder were being kept in the south chancel and in addition, at the time of the Armada (1588),   gun wheels were kept in the churchyard .  In 1637, a complaint was made that the church contained ‘arsenals, prisons and places of execution of punishment’. 

The cistern or Water House in the northeast angle of the churchyard is a major architectural feature of the town; it faces the side of Church Square formerly known as Pump Street. It was built in 1735 and is considered a first class example of Georgian brickwork. It has been likened to ‘an oval tea-caddy with a lid on’.  The ‘tea-caddy’  sits on a domed structure which in turn caps the actual reservoir which is below ground.  The water supply was pumped up Conduit Hill through elm pipes from  what became the town’s Soup Kitchen and later,  public lavatories.

At the time the Water House was built,  Market Street was the Butchery.  The Assembly Book of 1754 reported that calves’ feet had been found in the reservoir,  endangering health, and that anyone thereafter discovered throwing  ‘dirt, dust, soil,  trash, nastiness or anything else’ would be prosecuted.

St Mary's from the southeast

Still later, the south chancel was divided into two floors, and the upper floor became a school for pauper children.  According  to one report in the 1830s children were marshalled there by  an old parishioner twice a day either for the purpose of instruction or amusement we  know not’  but  ‘ the hubbub which prevailed’  led to wonder whether any knowledge was acquired.  The etching  shows the schoolmaster and his pupils in 1851 leaving by a door which is now blocked up.

The reporter goes on to say  that at other times the pauper sick  were taken to the south chapel e ‘ for quietness’.   The remains of the school’s fireplace can still be seen high up on the chancel wall.   There were other uses still in Victorian times:  as a factory where workhouse inmates were employed in spinning, and as a soup  kitchen.

 The  north chancel has also been used for a variety of purposes: as a store for the town’s lumber and builders’ ladders,   a home  for the town fire engine (now in the Rye Museum), and, it  is thought, a hiding place for smuggled goods.   In 1854   it was ruled that burials within and outside of the church should cease; henceforth Rye Cemetery was to be used for burials.  Until that time, people were buried in the north chancel and two of the graves feature in a famour Rye story.     

Pillory and gibbet cage with skull of John Breads

Next to one another lie Allen Grebell–murdered by mistake in 1742 by John Breads, a butcher.   At the time Grebell was the deputy mayor.  Dressed in the mayor’s cloak, he was returning from a function attended on behalf of his brother-in-law, mayor James Lamb, the intended victim.  

Various explanations  have been offered: revenge for being fined by the mayor for giving short weight, mental illness,  the Rye smuggling mafia diverting attention from  their  activities….    Nevertheless, from 1792 to 1862 the murderer and his victim were both  in the north chancel as John Breads’ skeleton, in an iron cage, had been moved there from Gibbets’ Marsh. 

In 1862, when the chancels were re-opened, the iron cage and its contents were removed to the Town Hall.  At about the same time  the pillory and ducking stool,  fire engine,  lumber and  ladders were also removed.

Victorian Restorations

In 1883 an extensive restoration scheme was begun.    The church was once again in a dilapidated state.  The nave had been covered with a flat plaster ceiling, concealing the fact that the clerestory windows had been boarded up. The walls were considered dangerous. 

With Victorian thoroughness, the restorers set to work to put things right.  The nave was re-roofed, an entire new clerestory constructed, the walls strengthened, the west door–from which people are leaving in the 1851 photo above– was  blocked up and a clean sweep made of much of the interior.  A careful comparison of the two pre-restoration photos with what one sees today will reveal a number of external changes

There has been much criticism of the drastic reconstruction. One eminent architect asserted that the church, as an historic building, had suffered more from the misguided zeal of the restorers than it had from the French and the Puritans during previous centuries.   It is considered fortunate that plans to bring the transepts up to Victorian standards were dropped.

 Post World War II Restorations

The next  major restoration programme was started after the Second World War.  Although the only visible damage of h= the war was the loss of the East Window in a bomb blast,  closer inspection revealed that much of the fabric was in a bad state and an extensive restoration programme was begun in 1948 which still continues.  Some of the repairs such as the rebuilding of the  buttresses on the south are obvious.  Others, like the major operation of tying the north transept walls to the tower, work on the walls, restoring the entire roof, strengthening the tower and renewing flooring are less visible though no less important.

Repairs will always be needed to this still impressive church so full of history, but it is hoped that never again will it be ‘so ruinous that the people are afraid to attend’.   Today the church plays a major role in the life of the town as a fitting venue not only for services but also for classical music concerts and other  activities which bring the community together.    

Church from Lion St

The Tower

The bells stolen by the French and subsequently recovered are not the ones in the Tower today.  In 1775 the orignal bells were recast and two new ones added.  Together, the eight bells and their clappers weigh nearly five tons.   The church still has an active bell-ringing team. 

 The ‘new’ clock was made in about 1561-62 by the Hugeunot Lewys Billiard who was paid 30 pounds  for his work .It is one of the oldest turret clocks in the country sill functioning.   The exterior clock face and the Quarter Boys which stand above the dial were added in 1761.  

Church Clock and Quarter Boys

Another feature of the tower is the golden weather vane which dates from 1703.  From its beginning, the tower has been used as a lookout and a landmark for sailors, visible from Dungeness to Fairlight,  Today a climb to the Tower is one of Rye’s most popular tourist attractions, offering views over the entire red-roofed town,  the surrounding landscape including Romney Marsh and the rivers, and out to sea. 

Next:  What to look for inside the church

Biographical notes provided by
Rye-born historian and novelist John Burke, father of Jenny Hadfield, the present proprietor

Jeake’s House

The Jeake Family

Of  Huguenot origin, the family’s first settler  in Rye appears to have been a late 16th-century merchant, William Jeaque (a possible corruption of Jacques). His son Henry set up a bakery in the High Street and married a girl from Peasmarsh.

Their son, first recorded as Sammewell but later as Samuel, became a freeman of Rye and its Town Clerk. He bought for a guinea the entire collection of statutes belonging to the borough, and from them produced a scholarly volume, The Charters of the Cinque Ports, Two Ancient Towns and their Members. Throughout his life he remained a staunch Presbyterian – or Dissenter – which was no hindrance during the Cromwellian years, but caused him trouble after the Restoration of Charles II, when the Act of Uniformity denied freedom of worship and preaching — ‘holding forth’ — by Nonconformists.

Threatened with prosecution in 1682, Jeake fled to London, where he was joined in hiding by his son and daughter-in-law the following year. The son returned warily to Rye in 1684, but his father did not risk it until James II introduced a more tolerant regime, followed by further relaxation under William and Mary.

This son, Samuel Jeake II, was equally firm in his Presbyterian beliefs, but also had an incongruous interest in astrology. As a hard-headed merchant in wool, hops, money-lending and shrewd investments, he nevertheless turned to the stars for guidance before deciding to become one of the first subscribers to the newly formed Bank of England. Sustaining no injury after hitting his head against a door, he ascribed this to the relative positions of the planets at the time. Contemplating marriage, he worked out the details of the dowry he expected from the young lady’s widowed mother, but was not confident of the girl’s own response until “the Cluster of Planets . . . seem’d to shew a successful time for such addresses.”

As a result, at the age of 29 he married Elizabeth Hartshorne, daughter of the late headmaster of the Grammar School in High Street, when she was 13 years of age. Always prone to depression, ague and other ailments, shortly after the betrothal he was “surprised . . . with excessive Melancholy, which lasted all September and October” during which “there arose great displeasure & difference between me and my intended Mother in Law and Wife.” Not a good omen for wedded bliss ! But by November he had recovered, and for once thanked God rather than a conformation of planets. 

Samuel II followed in his father’s footsteps by being made a freeman of Rye in 1690, but the very next day sent his mother-in-law and daughter out of the town because of the scare of a French invasion. He and his wife remained “since my little Boy was this morning taken sick of a feaver, & very bad, so that he could not be carried without danger of his Life.” When no attack was forthcoming, he ascribed this to heavenly intervention, and sketched the horoscope in his diary.

This diary contains day-by-day accounts of his business dealings and local events, each entry preceded by the astrological symbol for the day. Personal matters such as his marital relations and quarrels were camouflaged in a form of shorthand as tricky as Samuel Pepys’s, but solved and transcribed in the 20th century.

Among the children of Samuel and Elizabeth Jeake was another Samuel, derided locally as ‘a Conjuror’.He was reputed to have built a flying machine which unfortunately failed to fly. Rye’s most revered historian, William Holloway, records in the mid 19th century that he had known men who had seen the remains of the machine in the attic of the Grammar School. 

Quakers’ House

In 1704 the Quakers, flourishing in and around Rye, bought the meetinghouse and laid out a burial ground behind it. In 1753 it was bought by the Baptists, in such a derelict state that it had to be virtually demolished and rebuilt in its present form. The baptistry still exists below the floor of the dining room; but guests eating breakfast need not fear a sudden plunge into the water. Jeake’s House itself later became the Baptist schoolroom. Elizabeth Fry, the Quaker prison reformer, visited during a tour of Sussex, and is believed to have addressed the congregation. In 1909 the Baptists built a new chapel in Cinque Ports Street, and their Mermaid Street buildings were sold off. Jeake’s House became a private residence, while the, meeting-house served for several years as St. Mary’s Men’s Club. 

Elder’s House

Adjoining the meeting-house, this was also known as the Minister’s House. One incumbent, the Rev. Purdy, had the building consecrated so that he could hold services there after a schism with his congregation. In the 20th century it became a private residence, the property of the painter Perugini, and for a time before and after the Second World War was the home of the great-uncle of the present proprietor, Jenny Hadfield, before its present amalgamation with the Jeake’s House complex. 

Families and Visitors

In January 1924 the American poet, novelist and critic Conrad Aiken bought Jeake’s House for £1700 – “So vast, so tall the establishment that we are sure that at the end of a year we shall encounter, here and there, rooms unnoticed before, filled with mice and foul with bats, squealing with rats and roped with webs, littered with bones and stinking of ghosts.” As time went on he changed his mind, referring to it as his “deeply cherished home … lighted by laughter, the kind of light that never goes out.” Certainly the present owner will have no truck with bats, rats or malodorous phantoms.

In 1928 Aiken also bought the Men’s Club and began the task of combining the two which has been further developed today. He was visited by local and American friends, including Dame Laura Knight, E. F. Benson, Thomas Hardy’s widow, T. S. Eliot, and the wayward Malcolm Lowry, with whom he had many protracted drinking sessions.

In more recent  years, Patrick Moore stayed here while lecturing on astrology and astronomy in connection with the 300th anniversary of the founding of Jeake’s House. It is frequently used as a base by visiting members of the Tilling Society, devoted to the works of E. F. Benson, who disguised Rye under the name of Tilling (after the local River Tillingham) in the Mapp and Lucia novels written while he lived in Lamb House, round the corner in West Street.

This third selection of Said About Rye  comes from Poems of Rye  (1979).  Patric Dickinson  (1914-1994) lived in Rye from 1947 and published and broadcast poetry for over 30 years.  He also wrote plays, an autobiography, and translated the complete Plays of Aristophanes and Virgil’s Aeneid  The first of these poems comes from the five part Sketches of Rye with which the book begins. These were commissioned by the Rye Festival of 1979.  Both were among the poems read at the Festival.  

Topographical

Van Dyck drew it from the South
From the river, seeing a plateau,
The great church riding eastward
In its tideless ocean of faith.

From the East, coming over the marsh
Or from the golf-club it’s a pyramid
With the church tower at the top.
A black silhouette in the twilight.

Turner halfway from Winchelsea,
From the West, romantically stationed
Upon some dangerous sea-stropped
Causeway of his imagination.

Drew Camber Castle flaoted away
Almost hull-down to the east
And Rye in a spotlight,  half Italian,
And half as it were a volcano.

With smoke and fire belching
From the church, it is always the church
That crowns the unique town.

From the North you come down hill
From the mainland then climb again,
Up this rocky hillock like a moraine heap:
Rye is an island, St Mary’s Mount.

Is also a castle, should have a drawbridge,
There are aeons of life in this pyramid,
Fire in this volcano,–
Is also like a beautifully jewelled broach
Worn at South England’s throat,
As land gives way to channel:
The Tillingham mates with the Brede
And both mix in the Rother
The sweet and the salt waters,
Below Watchbell Street and under
The eyes of the Ypres Tower,
Last dry land or first island,
A place between past and future,
A historic present to speak of
In a language of salty silence
That is sweet on every tongue.

Rye

It seems solid enough as you come through the Landgate
And the streets climb up to the church
That, like a stranded ark,
       Straddles the hilltop.

But Time is different here,
The streets are full of beggars
You cannot see, who speak
The tongues of centuries
     To the deat tourists.

‘We have always been perverse
And unprofessional beggars,
Fort we want to give, not take,
To offer you this town’s
     Particular nature.

‘It is not what you see
As you trip on the cobbles
And say the houses are quaint,
Nor was it ever like that,
     It is our presence.’

The town keeps whispering
Its history–fishermen, merchants–
Lifetimes that have been built
From unimportant scraps
     To construct a clement

Enclave and sanctuary,
Once you have understood this,
You will feel Rye within,
And be disposed to come back,
     If you ever leave it.