Rye Castle Museum

Catch up here on Events,  the Museum Website,  Book News,  Opening Hours,  The Women’s Tower Project and Volunteer Opportunities…..

News Flashes

Talks:  Please note that there will be a second talk this month!  See below

Expanded Opening Times:  Due to popular demand,  the Ypres Tower is now open  7 days a week (not 5) and from 10.30 to 5.00 (no closure at lunchtime).  Last entry 4.30 . 

A reminder of what is there

In the dungeon there is a display of Arms and Armour, with helmets to try on, and swords to try and wield.  On the ground floor, cells for prisoners: one containing a cell with Rye pottery, a stillroom with herbs and spices from the Middle Ages which complements the Medieval herb garden in the old exercise yard and a prisoner cell.  On the first floor we have the Rye Millennium Embroidery, beautifully sewn scenes of Rye, and a relief map of the surrounding countryside over the centuries.  From there you can go onto the lookout, designed to look for the enemy!  You look down onto the Medieval herb garden, and across to the Women’s Tower.  This is of the few left, built to keep the women and children prisoners when they were separated from the men in 1837.

East Street Museum hours will continue as before, i.e. weekends all day, except for lunch times, and Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays in the afternoons. However,  if enough of you volunteer for stewarding (usually just once a month) we may be able to extend there too.   Please scroll down to see the invitation below to Become a Rye Museum Stewa rd.   We need you and it’s a rewarding thing to do

For a reminder of what can be seen at this site, click on Museum Sites above.  An enlarged and relocated Captain Pugwash display is about to appear.

Publications:  The list of Museum books, booklets, maps, postcards and DVDs has just been added to the site.  Click here to see it.   We are not at present able to provide a postal service, but the full range of titles is available at the East Street site and our topsellers at the Ypres Tower.

Scroll down for more Book News.

Museum Events

We’ve already had two successful and well-attended events this month:  our monthly Coffee Morning and a very informative, interesting and even entertaining talk by Dr Graham Mayhew (author of Tudor Rye) on the religion-infused lives of Ryers in medieval and pre-Reformation times.  We’ll try to get a summary for our website up soon.

Still to come this month:

Tuesday April 27 at 7:30 p.m.   3 East Street.  Talks Programme�
A Circle of Friends:  the story of John Allen, Samuel Jeake and Philip Frith in Restoration Rye: Donna Bilak

Donna has been researching John Allen and other friends of polymath Samuel Jeake II in Restoration times for her Ph D dissertation.   Some of this research has been done at the Rye Museum.   Donna will share some of her interesting discoveries about 17th century Rye people and events.  There will be a raffle and llight refreshments.

Admission is £1.50 for members, £2.50 for non-members.  

And put these in your diary for next month:

Saturday, 8th May 10:30-12:30 East Street
Coffee Morning

Excellent Fairtrade and organic  tea and cafetiere coffee, cakes, interesting table sales: posh trash, books, tombola.  Entry is free on Coffee Mornings and all are welcome.  Besides seeing our exhibits, you will find this a great  place to meet friends. Women’s Tower Project

Tuesday 11th May 7:30 East Street   Talks Programme
  ‘And so we raised the Mary Rose’ by Albert Granville

Albert Granville was involved with the raising of the Mary Rose.  He will tell us of the experience and the artefacts they found. There will be a raffle and light refreshments.

£1.50 members  £2.50 non-members.   All welcome.

Women’s Tower Project:  Have you bought a brick (or two?), a stone (or two?)

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 and the process has already begun:  English Heritage has approved plans; we have paid for architects’ plans with the RTC grant;  proper recording, preservation and storage of items kept in the Women’s Tower is  nearly completed . . . .  

 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 in the restored tower elsewhere) and ensuring they are properly documented and cared for.

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. 

Become a Rye Museum Steward

 The extension of our opening hours (see above) means more volunteers than ever before are needed to welcome visitors at the two sites.     The many slots are now nearly all filled (in part because a few people are taking more than one shift in the month) but we would be grateful for further offers of help either on a regular basis or on an ‘emergency’ list.   A bit of simple arithmetic will reveal why we need all the help we can get:

 At East Street there are seven shifts a week to cover,   and some volunteers prefer to serve as one of a pair.  (Hours are 2-5  Monday, Thursday and Friday,  and 10:30 – 1, also 2-5 Saturday and Sunday.)  If each person does just one shift a month (i.e. a morning or an afternoon),  we  need 54 volunteers to cover 28 two person shifts on this site!  

At the Tower we are fortunate to have several regular guides but they need relief of 1 1/2 hours for a lunchtime break and the aim is to have two volunteers a day willing to cover this short periiod because lunchtime visits are popular.    For a 30 day month that is 60 people willing to give just 1 1/2 hours of their time!   The open-at-lunchtime arrangement is proving well worthwhile financially so– Do you see why we need you?

Far from being onerous,  stewarding  offers a chance to meet  interesting visitors and become better acquainted yourself with our exhibits and Rye’s history,  so if you would be willing to help out, please contact the office  info@ryemuseum.co.uk or ring 01797-226728.

You may also want to ask about other ways to help, for example by joining the Rye Muses who organise events which help raise funds, or the Education Committee, or the Gardening group or . . . . .  The full list of possibilities is quite long!

Rye Museum Website   

There are now nearly 100 articles and some improvements to design and navigation.  More to come of course,  so 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 writing/editing/web  talents or information on some aspect of Rye’s history you would be willing to share, please let us know!  jlfloydeltc@gmail.com 

We are 100 years away from Edwardian Rye.   One new ‘post’ on the site will give you  an idea of the changes in Rye since then,,  Click here to see it. 

 Book News

Do you have your copy of  Rye in World War II?  This 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 either of the Museum sites.   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.  t

New looks at Rye

 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!  

Do you have these yet?

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