Rye Castle Museum

Holiday Opening Times 

The Ypres Tower (Rye Castle) site will be open as follows during the Christmas period:

Sunday 27th  December
Bank Holiday Monday 28th December
Saturday 2nd January �
Sunday 3rd January  

Times on all four days:  10.30 to 3.30 – Closed for lunch 1-2

At Your Request. . . .

Rye in World War II was the subject of  Jo Kirkham’s Address at the 2009 Remembrance Day Service at St Mary’s Church, Rye.   Following requests from a number of people for a printed version of the address,  an illustrated booklet  is now available at £3.50. 

Copies may  be purchased at the Rye Heritage Cente  or, at weekends, the Ypres Tower.  All proceeds will go to the Women’ s  Tower Project so that this part of Ypres Tower, home of the Rye Museum, can be restored and re-roofed  and brought into active use.  See below for more details on this importat project

Another book . . .

 A lovely little book for all Ryers:  John Griffiths’  Shapes, Colours and Materials: a look at buildings in Rye, Rye Conservation Society. £6.99.   Buying through the Museum helps the Museum!  

 

Events

November saw two successful Craft Fairs–lovely Christmas presents,  mulled wine,  good company– plus a coffee morning,  plus another excellent talk by Imogen Corrigan who managed humour as well as much interest in what sounds a macabre topic: The Black Death.   On  the opening night of Rye’s December Festival,  scores of children queued up to talk with Father Christmas and Mrs Santa,  entertained meanwhile by a prolific bubble machine and Cinque Ports  Volunteers.  And  Monica Jansson   had just given us a talk on another  unusual and intriguing topic:  Ten Beds in History!

Are the next events in your diary? 

Saturday 12th December   East Street  10:30 – 12:30
Christmas Coffee Morning

Books, cake stall,  bric-a-brac stall.  Free entry to the Museum for all.  A Christmasy place to meet your friends on a winterish morning!

Saturday 23rd January  East Street  10:30-12:30
Coffee Morning

Tuesday 9th February East Steet   7;30   Dr John Reuther
The Origin and History of Nursery Rhymes

Saturday 13 February East Street  10:30-12:30
Coffee Morning

Tuesday, 9 March  East Street  7:30 Helen Wojczak
Ten Notable Women of Rye

This coincides with Internatiional Women’s Day.

 

 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

 

Books Reminder  

These both deal with 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

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

.   

Women Tower Project

There are still bricks and stones waiting to be sponsored!   Do you have a sponsor’s certificate yet?   You may collect as many as you like!     Rye Town Council at its meeting of 26th October voted to contribute £5000 to the Women’s Tower Project! The process has already   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