Rye Castle Museum

by Jo Kirkham

Napoleonic Times

More Threats to Britain

 1802
A French engineer first proposed a tunnel under the English Channel at the Straits of Dover. Napoleon was interested, but the renewal of the war meant that the scheme was suspended.

1803
War was declared again and Napoleon was now Emperor of the French. The threat of invasion was now more serious for Britain than ever before because this time the French controlled the coast facing us, from Denmark to the Spanish border. By then Pitt was no longer Prime Minister but he took personal command as Lord Warden. He raised three infantry battalions.  Rye was in the 3rd Battalion, and became 1,2,and 3 of its 10 Companies.

•  3rd Battalion Cinque Ports Volunteer Corps – re-formed in 1803-until 1806.
• A Rye Battery of Artillery was also raised by Pitt in 1804 and probably lasted unti1 1814.
•  3rd Battalion Cinque Ports Volunteers did not like being disbanded in 1806, and within 3 months they re-formed themselves and lasted unti1 1808.

Napoleon’s Invasion Plan

In 1803, Napoleon was building the largest flotilla ever seen. He planned to invade in the winter of 1803/4 and had collected together 1000 vessels at Boulogne before December. He was building new ports or basins for the ships and forts to protect them. He intended to cross on a foggy night or after a storm when the British Navy was becalmed, when his troops could paddle quickly to England.   Fifteen hundred barges full of troops were to leave Boulogne, Wissant, Ambleteuse and Etaples; 300 from Dunkirk, Calais and Gravelines; 300 from Niewport and Ostend; and 300 from Flushing with the Dutch Army.

There were to be three types of vessel, all with specially designed landing bridges:

• Prams : large sailing vessels, over 100’ long, armed with 25 pounder guns and with 150 men
• Chaloupes:  to escort them with howitzers
• Pinnaces: most vessels, 60’ long, armed with a small howitzer and 55 men. 

 6000 horses, 120,000 veteran troops and 6000 horses  plus artillery and supplies were planned to invade Britain.

The First British Plan of Defence

The Dungeness Peninsula was vulnerable, The first British plan of defence was to flood the large area which was below the High Water Mark, by opening the sluices in the Dymchurch Wall, Scots Float, East Guldeford and Pett Level, and by breaching the walls along the rivers Brede and Rother.

However no one would approve the plan, so on 25 August 1803, the Duke of York suggested building a line of forts (Martello Towers) from Folkestone to Selsey.

Napoleon’s Preparations

In the meantime, however, the French-controlled ports silted up as they were dug and although the craft and troops gradually assembled, they could only get out of the harbour a few at a time. They were constantly harassed by the British Navy and by bad weather.

By August 1804 Napoleon was ready: 3,000 vessels and 180,000 troops were assembled between Cherbourg and Ostend. Napoleon himself was in Boulogne on August 15th, and it became clear to him that he needed a sea battle first to get the Royal Navy out of the way. His Navy, under Villeneuve, sailed south instead of up the Channel.

The Royal Navy followed and, under Nelson, there was eventually a battle, which resulted in the British victory at Trafalgar in 1805. Napoleon was furious with Villeneuve and eventually turned his attentions to the east and attacked Austria.

British Defences

Britain’s improved defence preparations were of three types:    flooding, Martello Towers and the Royal Military Canal.
 

 

 

1.  Flooding 

 September 1804, William Pitt,  Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports, who had been Prime Minister since May, agreed to  Defence Plan 1, i.e. the flooding, if necessary, of low land.

 

 

 

2.  Martello Towers

 

In October/November, the Privy Council agreed to have 86 Martello Towers built, two large ones with 11 guns at the east end of the Dymchurch Wall and at Eastbourne, and 84 smaller ones, armed with 18 pounders.

They were  small round structures, built of brick covered with a sand-cement stucco. The bricks were set in a mixture of hot tallow, lime and ash, which set like iron. The walls were 14’ thick at the bottom and 8’ at the top, 33’ from ground to parapet.

Their entrance was on the middle floor, which also had accommodation for the officers and 24 men. The ground floor, reached by a trap door, had the magazine and stores; and the top floor platform held the guns on a swivel.

 

 

 

 

3. The Royal Military CanalIn September 1804, a second line of defence was suggested; a canal, now known as the Royal Military Canal,  to act as a moat and to  ease  troop movement. It was to be built from Shorncliffe Barracks to the Rother at Boonsbridge.vvOnly one lock was needed at Iden and it was opened in September 1808, linking Hythe with the Rother and Rye Harbour. By April 1809, the Royal Military Canal, built by soldiers,  was virtually finished for navigation and defence,   The canal and its parapets had gun positions at the end of each length, it had a tow path and a Military Road.

 

 Peace

Napoleon considered reviving his invasion plan in 1811, but the idea came to nothing.   After the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, there was a long period of peace.

 Invasion threat of Napoleon III: 1858

Fears in 1858 that Napoleon III was going to invade led to preparations in Rye for resisting:

•  A Volunteer Rye Corps in May 1859 was formed — to be called ‘The Rye District Rifle Company.’
• This became a joint company with Tenterden in December 1859  but was disbanded in 1860.
• In 1861 the Government reorganised the 35th (Cinque Ports) Regiment of Rifle Volunteers into two battalions and Rye sub-division became the 3rd Hastings Company in the 1st Cinque Ports Administrative Battalion.
• This became the 9th Rye Rifles and lasted until 1876. At the same time, and rather as rivals, the 4th Cinque Ports (Hastings and Rye) Volunteer Artillery was formed in 1861 and they called themselves ‘The Rye Marine Cinque Ports Volunteer Artillery’
• They lasted until 1877 and continued meeting in Hastings but with only two Rye members until 1891. Both groups had many prize-firings which helped them train for war.