Rye Castle Museum

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

There’s lots so keep scrolling down!     There are new articles and additions (e.g. photos) or changes to existing ones, so check out the Rye Castle Museum and Local History categories that interest you to see the latest.     

 News Flashes

• Opening hours change at the end of October.  See Reminders below.
•  The Talks Programme for the coming year is now available.   The first — don’t miss it —  is on Tuesday 12th October when Peter Ewart, will present Researching the History of a House and its Occupants.   See October Eventrs below.   For the full Talks list  click here and get out your diary!  
•  Click on Events and Photos  at right for photos of the Let’s Build a Roof and Captain Pugwash Birthday Party events on 3rd July and an unusual Wedding in the Medieval Garden of the Ypres Tower. See the new subcategory Rye Museum’s Story.
• There will be no Coffee Morning in September.   The main reason for the break is that there will be so many Rye Festival and other events in September. We will reesume our popular monthly Coffee Mornings in October.  That’s Saturday, 9th October 10:30 – 12:00.   See October Events below.
• Exploring Rye with Brian Hargreaves  The book  is out and selling fast.   It is available at both sites as well as in town.  It includes nearly 100 of Brian’s splendid drawings of Rye buildings and details.  Price:  £5.50.

     Reminders: 

• The Ypres Tower is now open all day.   The extended opening hours have been so successful we plan to keep the Tower open every day (including lunch hour) during the winter months too, with a slightly shorter day:  10:30 – 3:30.
• The East Street Museum is open all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays until the end of October.  It will then close for the winter except for pre-booked parties..  Please contact the Museum: 01797 226728, or info@ryemuseum.co.uk   if you wish to bring a group.
• We run  entirely on the good will of volunteers    If you aren’t already a volunteer steward do think about joining us!     See the note below under On Being a Volunteer.   Also below:  About our Museum Sites and additions to the Rye Museum website.    

October Events    Are these in your diary?

• Saturday 9th October: Coffee Morning:  East Street, Rye. 10.30 to 12.00.
  Excellent fairtrade, organic tea and coffee, cake stall, bric a brac stall, book stall.  Free entry to museum.  All welcome.
• Tuesday 12th October:   ‘Researching a House and Its Occupants’ , East Street Museum 7:30
  The first of the new season’s talks begins with Peter Ewart who will be including local examples.   Peter  is well known in Rye as a local historian , the author of A Poor Man’s Rye and as an excellent speaker.
  Entryis £3.00 for visitors, £2.00 for members.  There will be light refreshments afterwards.
• Tuesday 26th October: Volunteers Evening:  East Street Museum 6:30 p.m.
  Come to get caught up on what’s happening at the Museum this next year– whether yoou are currently a volunteer or not.    You may hear about something that interests you enough to become one!   There is more about Volunteering further down this page.

You might also like to attend

• Saturday 16th October: 3rd Medieval Conference at Rye College
  This year’s theme  ‘Medieval Trade and Transport’   has attracted a number of experts prepared to disseminate their latest research. Venue: Rye College The Grove, Rye, TN31 7ND. Tickets: £25, students £10. For further information contact The Rye Partnership on 01797 229600 or by email on admin@ryepartnership.org.uk. 

Looking Ahead

• 9th November:  Talks Programme: ‘Railways of Sussex and Kent’,  East Street Museum 7:30
  By Doug Lindsay, of the Kent and East Sussex Railway Association
• 13th November:   Coffee Morning:  East Street Museum 10:30 – 12:00     Bring your friends. 
• 27th November: Craft Fair:  East Street Museum 10:30 – 4 p.m.
  All the tables are now booked for this popular event.   Besides the displays and Christmas gifts for sale there will be mince pies. mulled wine and more.
• 11th December:  The Grotto and Father Christmas: East Street Museum
   This year Rye’s Christmas events will be spread over two or three dates to enable Ryers and visitors to take in more of them.  Details coming very shortly.  Whichever the date,  Santa will be there with presents for the children. 
• 14th December: Talks Programme: ‘Chedworth Roman Villa’: East Street Museum 7:30
  Chris Cleere will tell us how the National Trust is preserving and displaying its oldest Country House for the new millenium. 

Recent Events      in addition to our July and August Coffee Mornings:

 July 3 

 The two events on this day Let’s Build a Roof and the Captain Pugwash 60th Birthday Party were captured on camera.   Go to Events at right for summaries and photos.   A third set of photos — of a wedding in the Medieval Garden will appear shortly.   

DO COME AND SEE THE NEW CAPTAIN PUGWASH DISPLAY.   There are information sheets to tell you more about John Ryan and Captain Pugwash;  thanks to Anthony Kimber of the Rye Art Gallery for sharing these with us.    You will also want to visit the Rye Art Gallery where you will find Pugwash cartoons and other artwork of John Ryan.    The celebration is a joint Rye Museum and Rye Art Gallery effort.   And the Museum is now selling Captain Pugwash books!  Click here for titles and prices.   

July 13th Visit to Bexhill Museum   

Visiting other museums always generates ideas for our own and that was certainly the case with our group visit to the newly refurbished Bexhill Museum.   Julian Porter, Rother District Curator,  was our guide,  explaining the history of the museum’s development as well as showing the various new exhibition areas: the Costume and Social History Gallery and the new Motoring Gallery.  The eclectic natural history and other cultures exhibitions were  of special interest to some of us as was the accessible archive sections with its many files and interactive computer displays.    While we  were admittedly jealous s of the space,  funds and full time staff possesed by that Museum,  we did enjoy the visit and collect some ideas for use here in Rye.   We ended the afternoon at the De La Warr Pavilion for an excellent tea and a look at their exhibitions, in particular the 60 sculptures of the artist Anthony Gormley in 12 poses making up the Critical Mass roof-top exhibiton.  

Watch out for the announcement of next year’s museum visit!   

Earlier posts give details of earlier events.

About our Museum sites 

 Ypres Tower site

The latest addition at our 13th century  Tower is the Rye Tower Embroidery, an informative (and amusing) history of the castle commissioned as part of the Ypres Tower bid for Lottery money  and created by 20 members of the Rye Stitchers over the last four years   It’s a splendid piece of work worth a special visit/revisit to the Tower.       

A reminder of what else is in the Tower     

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 are cells once used for prisoners: one still reminds visitors of  the stark conditions endured by prisoners but another now displays  Rye pottery and a third has become a Still Room  with herbs and spices from the Middle Ages (complementing  the Medieval herb garden in the old exercise yard).  The splendid new addition of the Rye Tower Embroidery now holds pride of place above the ground floor fireplace.     

On the first floor there are beautifully sewn scenes of Rye: the Millennium Embroidery as well as  a relief map of the surrounding  countryside over the centuries and a map showing the scores of shipwrecks off our coast.    From here you can go onto the lookout, designed for looking out for the enemy!  You can look down onto the Medieval Herb  Garden which you can visit later, and across to the Women’s Tower which we are currently raising funds to repair so it can house more of our exhibits.   Built to keep the women and children prisoners when they were separated from the men in 1837, it is thought this may be the only such prison left in the country.     

What is in the East Street Museum?     

There are  displays on many aspects of Rye’s long and prestigious history:   as a  leading Cinque Port,  its shipbuilding, trading and fishing industries;  politics (there are seals from five reigns),  education,  celebrations,  the town’s celebrated pottery and mosaic ware,   domestic life and pastimes . . .   A popular feature is the town fire engine complete with wooden wheels, leather buckets and hoses used between 1745 and 1865.   There are paintings and photos as well as artefacts.    An enlarged and relocated Captain Pugwash display has just been launched (see above).  Judging from the length of time some of our visitors spend here and the comments in our visitors’ book, our Museum is well worth visiting.     

For more on this site, click on Museum Sites at right.     

On being a Volunteer

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!    

Praise  for our Volunteers:     The Rother Community Times Spring 2010 issue includes a complimentary piece on Volunteering at the Rye Museum.  It praises the number of things the Museum does–with an almost entirely volunteer staff, calls us ‘very flexible and welcoming’ and urges readers to become part of our team.  The full article is available from tina.hall@rothervoluntaryaction.org.uk. 

Women’s Tower Project:  Have you any fundraising ideas?

The Women’s Tower  buiding  is an important part  of Rye’s skyline and we think it  is the only 19th century Women’s Prison in the country.  There are plenty of exhibits in storage waiting to be displayed there!   Most grants require a matching contribution from the local community which is why your ideas and help are so important.

Here are two good examples of local efforts to help us raise the funds to repair the tower:

• Ryesingers gave a concert Sigh No More Ladies on 27th March at the Methodist Church.  Despite dreadful weather it was well-attended and added nearly £500 to our funds for rereoofing the tower where women prisoners once were held.  
• Students of Rye College,  mostly in Years 8 and 9, wrote dramatic sketches and stories,  made cakes,  learned medieval songs, occupied cells and staged performances  at Ypres Tower on July 3 in order to raise more funds for the Women’s Tower project.   About 25 students gave up their Saturday afternoon for the purpose  — a wonderful heartwarmoing effort showing their commitment to the town — and the entire proceeds from the event have gone into the Womenm’s Tower fund.    

A big thanks to Ryesingers and Rye College and a question:  DO YOU HAVE ANY BRIGHT IDEAS FOR HELPING TO RAISE THE NEARLY  £100 NEEDED TO SAVE THE TOWER? �
Please let us hear from you!   

Our leadership is busy seeking fund-raising help from ‘those who know’ and applying for grants–a difficult and very  time-consuming process especially when most applications require matching funds from the local community .  All ideas  for further events welcome!

Two existing ways you can help:

•  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 . . . .     
• Fill a jar with those 20p pieces which keep turning up in your purse or pocket.   Even a fairly small jar will hold about £25.   When it’s full bring it to the Museum.   Quite a few people brought full jars to the last AGM.  It all helps!

 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 (they are now stored 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.      

Rye Museum Website   

There are now well over 100 articles and some improvements to design and navigation.      Click on any of the Local History headings for example,  and you will be taken to a page headed by a list of subtopics already available.    The newest will always be on top.   There’s much more to come of  come of course,  so be sure to visit– and revisit.    Sample the lot, or click on a heading  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.   

Publications

The list of Museum books, booklets, maps, postcards and DVDs has recently 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.   Note that we have added Captain Pugwash titles to our stock.  Click here for titles and prices.   Scroll down for more Book News.     

Book News

Exploring Rye with Brian Hargreaves  is now available at both museum sites.  Nearly 100 precisioned line drawings of Rye buildings and details!  Price:  £5.50.  

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.  

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

Why ‘Flushing’?

There are several theories as to the origin of the name.  The most likely is that the street outside (Market Street) used to be known as ‘The Butchery’ and the old English word for a butcher was a “flesher”.   The original Fleshers Inn,  it is thought, became corrupted to Flushing Inn.

The Building

There are many ancient timber-framed building in Rye of particular historic interest and the Flushing Inn is certainly one of them.   It stands at the corner of the former Pump Street (now part of Church Square) and Market Street.  The original building of 1200-1230 was destroyed in the disastrous fire after the Frensh attack in 1377 but the barrel-vaulted Norman cellar has survived and remained in use.   The present building dates from about 1300-1450.   In 1850 the original Flushing Inn was divided into three properties but in 1994 it was restored to its original state.

Rye’s Most Popular Story

In 1742 the landlord of the Flushing was John Breads (Breeds) who also had a butcher’s shop in the yard of the Inn and is best remembered in Rye for ‘The Murder in the Chuchyard”. In the  most popular version of the story  Breads bore a grudge against the Mayor, James Lamb,  because he had fined him for selling short weight.  One night he lay in wait  for the mayor in the churchyard and when he saw  the Mayor’s cloak approaching, stabbed the man wearing it–who turned out to be Lamb’s brother-in-law Alan Grebell.  Grebell, a former Mayor,  had borrowed the cloak to attend a shipboard function in the current Mayor’s  place.   According to the popular story, Breads was heard shouting  ‘Butchers should kill Lambs’.     He was captured and tried–by James Lamb!   He was convicted and hanged and because his crime was considered especially heinous,  his corpse was gibbeted and  left hanging in an iron cage for all to see. Local  women stole bits of him for their potions, but the town still has the gibbet with his skull,  a replica being  on display at the Rye Heritage Centre.  

A bit of research will reveal other versions of events — including the possibility that Breads was framed . . .

The Tudor Fresco

There was an exciting discovery in 1901, behind panelling on the East wall of the old hall of the building:  Plaster work was uncovered which revealed a remarkable wall painting dating from the first part of the 16th century.  It measures eighteen feet by seven feet.   Probably the most important thing about it is  the frieze with Tudor roses, the coat of arms of Jane Seymour dated 1537 and the Royal Arms of England “King Edward VI 1547″.   The painting was damaged during World War II but was renovated in 1997 and is in a good state of preservation. 

The Inn has recently celebrated 50 years as a family run Inn under the same ownership but has now been sold as a private house.  It will be missed as an Inn by those who know Rye.

With acknowledgements to the Mann/Flynn family of The Flushing Inn 1960 – 2010.

Almost every building in Rye has a facinating history! Many have parts from two or three different centuries–a 14th century cellar under a 19th century rebuild, a Tudor house behind a Georgian facade…. A shop or school may now be a house, a warehouse a restaurant or part of the Museum. As population pressure has increased or eased houses have been divided, joined together again but differently, added to . . . .     But it isn’t just the buildings which are of interest. Many of the people who lived in them are fascinating to learn about too–their daily lives, the work they did, their role in Rye’s story and England’s too. We even know quite a bit about the personalities (and idiosyncrasies) of our Rye forebears.

So this section will keep on growing along with others on Rye Streets as well as Trades and Industries and Notable People and many others.  To see a particular article use the list at the top. To view  all the articles in this sectioh so far, simply keep scrolling down.

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

 There’s lots so keep scrolling down!     The newest Local History posts are available under   Said About Rye,  Notable People and Rye Buildings.     Under Rye Castle Museum –> Rye Museum’s Story you will find two articles:  An Abbreviated History  and Geoffrey Spink Bagley  (who  also appears under Notable People).     There are also three sets of new photos  taken at recent events under Ryc Castle Museum –> Events and Photos  

 News Flashes

• Opening hours change at the end of October.  See Reminders below.
•  The Talks Programme for the coming year is now available.   The first — don’t miss it —  is on Tuesday 12th October when Peter Ewart, will present Researching the History of a House and its Occupants.   See October Eventrs below.   For the full Talks list  click here and get out your diary!  
•  Click on Events and Photos  at right for photos of the Let’s Build a Roof and Captain Pugwash Birthday Party events on 3rd July and an unusual Wedding in the Medieval Garden of the Ypres Tower.
• There will be no Coffee Morning in September.   The main reason for the break is that there will be so many Rye Festival and other events in September. We will reesume our popular monthly Coffee Mornings in October.  That’s Saturday, 9th October 10:30 – 12:00.   See October Events below.
• Exploring Rye with Brian Hargreaves  The book  is out and selling fast.   It is available at both sites as well as in town.  It includes nearly 100 of Brian’s splendid drawings of Rye buildings and details.  Price:  £5.50.

Reminders: 

• The Ypres Tower is now open all day.   The extended opening hours have been so successful we plan to keep the Tower open every day (including lunch hour) during the winter months too, with a slightly shorter day:  10:30 – 3:30.

• The East Street Museum is open all day on Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays until the end of October.  It will then close for the winter except for pre-booked parties. .  Please contact the Museum: 01797 226728, or info@ryemuseum.co.uk   if you wish to bring a group.
• We run entirely on the good will of volunteers    If you aren’t already a volunteer steward do think about joining us!     See the note below under On Being a Volunteer.   Also below:  About our Museum Sites and additions to the Rye Museum website.    

October Events    Are these in your diary?

• Saturday 9th October: Coffee Morning:  East Street, Rye. 10.30 to 12.00.
  Excellent fairtrade, organic tea and coffee, cake stall, bric a brac stall, book stall.  Free entry to museum.  All welcome.
• Tuesday 12th October:   ‘Researching a House and Its Occupants’  East Street Museum 7:30
  The first of the new season’s talks begins with Peter Ewart who will be including local examples.   Peter  is well known in Rye as a local historian , the author of A Poor Man’s Rye and as an excellent speaker.
  Entryis £3.00 for visitors, £2.00 for members.  There will be light refreshments afterwards.
• Tuesday 26th October: Volunteers Evening:  East Street Museum 6:30 p.m.
  Come to get caught up on what’s happening at the Museum this next year– whether yoou are currently a volunteer or not.    You may hear about something that interests you enough to become one!   There is more about Volunteering further down this page.

Looking Ahead

• 13th November:   Coffee Morning:  East Street Museum 10:30 – 12:00     Bring your friends. 
• 27th November: Craft Fair:  East Street Museum 10:30 – 4 p.m.
  All the tables are now booked for this popular event.   Besides the displays and Christmas gifts for sale there will be mince pies. mulled wine and more.
• Either 4th or 11th December:  Santa’s Grotto:  East Street Museum
   This year Rye;s Christmas events will be spread over two or three dates to enable Ryers and visitors to take in more of them.  Details coming very shortly.
  Whichever the date,  Santa will be there with presents for the children. 

Recent Events      in addition to our July and August Coffee Mornings:

 July 3 

 The two events on this day Let’s Build a Roof and the Captain Pugwash 60th Birthday Party were captured on camera.   Go to Events at right for summaries and photos.   A third set of photos — of a wedding in the Medieval Garden will appear shortly.   

DO COME AND SEE THE NEW CAPTAIN PUGWASH DISPLAY.   There are information sheets to tell you more about John Ryan and Captain Pugwash;  thanks to Anthony Kimber of the Rye Art Gallery for sharing these with us.    You will also want to visit the Rye Art Gallery where you will find Pugwash cartoons and other artwork of John Ryan.    The celebration is a joint Rye Museum and Rye Art Gallery effort.   And the Museum is now selling Captain Pugwash books!  Click here for titles and prices.   

July 13th Visit to Bexhill Museum   

Visiting other museums always generates ideas for our own and that was certainly the case with our group visit to the newly refurbished Bexhill Museum.   Julian Porter, Rother District Curator,  was our guide,  explaining the history of the museum’s development as well as showing the various new exhibition areas: the Costume and Social History Gallery and the new Motoring Gallery.  The eclectic natural history and other cultures exhibitions were  of special interest to some of us as was the accessible archive sections with its many files and interactive computer displays.    While we  were admittedly jealous s of the space,  funds and full time staff possesed by that Museum,  we did enjoy the visit and collect some ideas for use here in Rye.   We ended the afternoon at the De La Warr Pavilion for an excellent tea and a look at their exhibitions, in particular the 60 sculptures of the artist Anthony Gormley in 12 poses making up the Critical Mass roof-top exhibiton.  

Watch out for the announcement of next year’s museum visit!   

Earlier posts give details of earlier events.

About our Museum sites 

 Ypres Tower site

The latest addition at our 13th century  Tower is the Rye Tower Embroidery, an informative (and amusing) history of the castle commissioned as part of the Ypres Tower bid for Lottery money  and created by 20 members of the Rye Stitchers over the last four years   It’s a splendid piece of work worth a special visit/revisit to the Tower.       

A reminder of what else is in the Tower     

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 are cells once used for prisoners: one still reminds visitors of  the stark conditions endured by prisoners but another now displays  Rye pottery and a third has become a Still Room  with herbs and spices from the Middle Ages (complementing  the Medieval herb garden in the old exercise yard).  The splendid new addition of the Rye Tower Embroidery now holds pride of place above the ground floor fireplace.     

On the first floor there are beautifully sewn scenes of Rye: the Millennium Embroidery as well as  a relief map of the surrounding  countryside over the centuries and a map showing the scores of shipwrecks off our coast.    From here you can go onto the lookout, designed for looking out for the enemy!  You can look down onto the Medieval Herb  Garden which you can visit later, and across to the Women’s Tower which we are currently raising funds to repair so it can house more of our exhibits.   Built to keep the women and children prisoners when they were separated from the men in 1837, it is thought this may be the only such prison left in the country.     

What is in the East Street Museum?     

There are  displays on many aspects of Rye’s long and prestigious history:   as a  leading Cinque Port,  its shipbuilding, trading and fishing industries;  politics (there are seals from five reigns),  education,  celebrations,  the town’s celebrated pottery and mosaic ware,   domestic life and pastimes . . .   A popular feature is the town fire engine complete with wooden wheels, leather buckets and hoses used between 1745 and 1865.   There are paintings and photos as well as artefacts.    An enlarged and relocated Captain Pugwash display has just been launched (see above).  Judging from the length of time some of our visitors spend here and the comments in our visitors’ book, our Museum is well worth visiting.     

For more on this site, click on Museum Sites at right.     

 On being a Volunteer

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!    

Praise  for our Volunteers:     The Rother Community Times Spring 2010 issue includes a complimentary piece on Volunteering at the Rye Museum.  It praises the number of things the Museum does–with an almost entirely volunteer staff, calls us ‘very flexible and welcoming’ and urges readers to become part of our team.  The full article is available from tina.hall@rothervoluntaryaction.org.uk. 

Women’s Tower Project:  Have you any fundraising ideas?

The Women’s Tower  buiding  is an important part  of Rye’s skyline and we think it  is the only 19th century Women’s Prison in the country.  There are plenty of exhibits in storage waiting to be displayed there!   Most grants require a matching contribution from the local community which is why your ideas and help are so important.

Here are two good examples of local efforts to help us raise the funds to repair the tower:

• Ryesingers gave a concert Sigh No More Ladies on 27th March at the Methodist Church.  Despite dreadful weather it was well-attended and added nearly £500 to our funds for rereoofing the tower where women prisoners once were held.  
• Students of Rye College,  mostly in Years 8 and 9, wrote dramatic sketches and stories,  made cakes,  learned medieval songs, occupied cells and staged performances  at Ypres Tower on July 3 in order to raise more funds for the Women’s Tower project.   About 25 students gave up their Saturday afternoon for the purpose  — a wonderful heartwarmoing effort showing their commitment to the town — and the entire proceeds from the event have gone into the Womenm’s Tower fund.    

A big thanks to Ryesingers and Rye College and a question:  DO YOU HAVE ANY BRIGHT IDEAS FOR HELPING TO RAISE THE NEARLY  £100 NEEDED TO SAVE THE TOWER? �
Please let us hear from you!   

Our leadership is busy seeking fund-raising help from ‘those who know’ and applying for grants–a difficult and very  time-consuming process especially when most applications require matching funds from the local community .  All ideas  for further events welcome!

Two existing ways you can help:

•  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 . . . .     
• Fill a jar with those 20p pieces which keep turning up in your purse or pocket.   Even a fairly small jar will hold about £25.   When it’s full bring it to the Museum.   Quite a few people brought full jars to the last AGM.  It all helps!

 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 (they are now stored 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.      

Rye Museum Website   

There are now well over 100 articles and some improvements to design and navigation.      Click on any of the Local History headings for example,  and you will be taken to a page headed by a list of subtopics already available.    The newest will always be on top.   There’s much more to come of  come of course,  so be sure to visit– and revisit.    Sample the lot, or click on a heading  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.   

Publications

The list of Museum books, booklets, maps, postcards and DVDs has recently 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.   We have just added Captain Pugwash titles to our stock,   Scroll down for more Book News.     

Book News

Exploring Rye with Brian Hargreaves  is now available at both museum sites.  Nearly 100 precisioned line drawings of Rye buildings and details!  Price:  £5.50.

The Museum is now stocking Captain Pugwash books.  Click here for titles and prices.   

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.  

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

STILLROOM THOUGHTS

Autumn Stillroom

If – on an Autumn or early Winter’s night – you quietly opened the heavy, oaken door leading to a Still Room such as our own within the Ypres Tower, you would immediately smell that special scent of Christmas and the festive season shortly to unfold, for this would be the magical, mysterious space where garden linked with house or castle to provide all manner of seasonal treats, as well as the more usual healing lotions and ointments regularly prepared within its walls.

Our Still Room contains many herbs to be seen in the Medieval Garden just outside, plus a range of then-precious spices used for cookery and healing.  Still Rooms were places where freshly collected plants and flowers were utilised in many ways, and these traditions continued well into the Edwardian period.  Herbs could be hung upside down in bunches and dried for household and kitchen use, or pounded to a paste and in their simplest form added to lotions and grease or fats to provide ointments, medicines and poultices, or added to water and allowed to quietly “distill” for bottling as herb-rich medicinal waters.  These were strained off into bottles and stoppered with a cork or the fore-runner of today’s “clingfilm” – pig or sheep bladders, stretched tightly to produce an air-tight seal.

Honey-rich syrups were made by infusing herbs previously bruised in a mortar and pestle or by making a strong decoction – both methods requiring heating to reduce the liquid, then strained through muslin and honey added to sweeten.  Colds and sore throats were often relieved by a rose-hip and lemon balm decoction with honey added to soothe and heal. In a static display it is difficult to show the process without a fire and bubbling potions reducing away, but we have an old copper full of herbs waiting to be infused with a ladle nearby for bottling – and a couple of completed bottles ready for use.

Iris Florentina (Orris)

An important plant used in Still Rooms for centuries is Iris Florentina, which can be seen down in the Medieval Garden in the first border against the wall by the stairs.  This attractive Iris provides “Orris” preservative within its thick roots.  The dried and powdered Orris is added to pot-pourri mixtures to preserve the scent, and has also been used to scent stored linens in the past. Monastery gardens always contained this plant, as monks used it for making ink – so a good “Dyers herb” too!  Many years ago I was given a pot-pourri recipe from the 1700’s, reputed to be Lady Betty Germain’s own recipe from Knole House, not too far from where I live. This “moist” pot-pourri included Orris mixed with many spices as its preservative and scent base, while a mixture of leaves and petals including lemon verbena, rose geranium, lavender, rose petals, violet and rosemary leaves provided the beautifully home-grown fragrance.  The whole flower mixture is preserved in sea salt, and weighted down to press out the moisture for some weeks, the liquid removed from this being a lovely way of refreshing dried pot-pourri.  The flowers eventually become a highly-scented cake, to which all the preservatives are then added – cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, lemon peel and powdered orris, with essential oils of lemon and rose giving strength to the mix.  This is by no means an attractive pot-pourri, becoming somewhat brown in colour, but when placed in a wide bowl and covered with dried rose petals and lavender heads gives even the largest room the most amazing perfume.

Cinnamon, cloves and lemon oil also combine with Orris root to form an aromatic curing mixture for pomanders … oranges, apples, lemons and even pomegranates closely studded with whole cloves and rolled in this mixture for weeks until they shrink to a fragrant hardened fruit – some of mine are 25 years old and now so wizened they resemble hand grenades!  Pomanders are fun to make throughout the year for adults and children alike, scenting the home with that indefinable smell of the Christmas season, and last much longer than an expensive scented candle. 

Back in the Still Room, a hanging rack full of herbs drying for winter use would always be present.  Bay, Rosemary, Thyme, Marjoram, Sage – all the old favourites, destined for stuffing poultry or pork over the winter season, particularly for the Christmas table, and for stocks and soups to eke out the luxurious food of the feast to last well into January.  In larger rooms Holly branches in buckets of water, long-stemmed and full of berry, quietly hid from the attention of local birds from early December to ensure a good festive display.

Stillroom Display

It is lovely to see the interest our Still Room has generated, within its brightly-coloured and fragrant small space.  We have been gifted some beautiful old flagons for use in this room by one of the Butchers Company who visited this summer,  and these will be part of my new exhibition, on the uses of a Still Room over the centuries, for 2011. 

Lin Saines

The History of Rye Castle Museum

by Allan Downend, slightly adapted from the booklet An Introduction to Rye Castle Museum ( 1999) with some additional information from Geoffrey S Bagley and Kenneth M Clark The Story of the Ypres Tower and Rye Museum (1975).

Ypres Tower, painting by Borrow

The idea of using Rye’s former jail (the Ypres Tower) as a museum was first mooted in 1889 by the Rye Literary Society but it was to be another forty years before a Rye Museum was established and sixty-five before  the Ypres Tower became its home.    

It was Leopold Vidler, author of A New History of Rye (1934) , who managed to establish the first  Museum in Battery House, just north of the Ypres Tower during his time as Mayor of Rye (1927 – 28).  The building had been purchased by Rye Council in 1925 from the War Office and it was let for use as a museum at £26 a year.   Leopold Vidler was its first and only curator and entrance fees were fixed at 6d for adults and 2d  a head for parties of not less than twelve persons.  Like the current Museum it was entirely self-supporting and had to rely on visitors, volunteers and fund-raising for its continuation and development.

With the outbreak of war in 1939 the Museum’s most valuable items were placed in temporary  storage around the town and in 1940 it was closed.

On September 22nd  1942 Battery House, and the adjoining property was  severely damaged in an air raid; at the same time the Ypres Tower lost its pyramidal tile roof .   Battery House was declared unsafe and the undamaged items still housed there were removed to safer repositories including the Ypres Tower.   At the end of the war all the salvaged exhibits and cases were moved to a Corporation garage,  there to remain until 1953.

To celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953,  Geoffrey Spink Bagley and Wally Cole of the Rotary Club of Rye and Winchelsea set up an historical exhibition featuring hitherto unseen and forgotten exhibits and reminding people of the museum’s collection.   It was decided to re-establish Rye’s Museum.

The survivors of the pre-war committee, plus ‘new blood’, set about finding new premises.  Geoffrey Spink Bagley took a leading role in this movement and became Honorary Curator after the death of Leopold Vidler in October 1954.  He held the post until his death in 1992, a period of thirty-eight years.   It was decided to house the Museum in the Ypres Tower which was now empty except for the mortuary in the basement.   Repairs carried out under War Damage provision had made it  habitable.    The newly re-formed Museum Association took a lease from the Council for the ground and first floors but the financial resources immediately available amounted to  £6 — the balance still standing to the credit of the old Museum Committee., Thus all the help in setting up the  Museum came from volunteers and donors of  fittings and equipment.     From this  seemingly amateurish start the Museum opened at Easter 1954 and  has continued to develop thanks to further bands of volunteers ever since.

Geoffrey Spink Bagley great enlarged  and enhanced the Collection and wrote extensively about Rye and the surrounding area.  With a team of volunteers he changed some of the displays each year and in 1975 the museum won an Award for its work and displays.  The emphasis was still on local history but the catchment area was widened to include Romney Marsh and the villages surrounding Rye.

In 1992 Margaret Bird becane Honorary Curator and realised that the damp conditions in the Tower that had begun to arise during the 1980s were beginning to affect the Collection.  She initiated the process that led to the Museum acquiring 3 East Street and then the development of a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for the money to convert that building into a Museum;  It had been a bottling factory for beers etc. and was llinked to the property  known as  Gill’s Loft and  Help the Aged  (now Age UK ,  the new name for Age Concern and Help the Aged) in the High Street where the beer was originally sold.  By the time the Museum Association bought the building the shop had been sold as a separate property and the old factory was in considerable disrepair.

Ypres Tower today (drawing by Brian Hargreaves)

Recent visitors to both the Ypres Tower and East Street sites will know that there have been many additions and improvements over the last decade, the details of which can be found on other parts of this website .  And once again we are appealing for help in raising  funds for building restoration, this time for the Women’s Tower, once used to house women prisoners.   (Click on Museum Sites and Latest News at right.)

Rye ships,  pottery and Tonbridgeware have been famous,  and the number of its inns numerous.  The  articles in this section are on those topics.   There is much more to come.

Editor’s note:�
For a fascinating read about life on Hucksteps Row (off Church Square) and Landgate Square about 100 years ago, read Peter Ewart’s A Poor Man’s Rye. Ask for it at the desk of the Rye Library.

By Peter Ewart

The thoroughfare leading from Landgate Tower to the foot of Rye Hill has long been a busy one. For centuries it was the main route out of the town to the hinterland of Sussex and Kent and on to London.

However , the buildings on each side of King Street , as Landgate was known until comparatively recently, do not immediately suggest antiquity. The deceptive 18th and 19th century facades conceal a number of Tudor and Jacobean dwellings and this quarter appears to have been the first substantial community to establish itself outside the town walls, despite the fact that it was considered necessary to renew the portcullis in the tower as late as 1559.

What is usually referred to as Symonson’s map of 1594, clearly shows a small settlement on either side of the road to the north east corner of the town and just outside the tower and the walled ditch – the Landgate Without. The beginnings of this development are also seen in John Prowse’s work of 1572. On this and subsequent plans the outline of a three sided courtyard can sometimes be discerned and indentified as what we know as Landagte Square – a square in name only. It was once three sided but today it is completely open on the north and east. Centuries of building for residential and commercial purposes, gradually converted the area into a labyrinthine network of lanes and alleys leading off both sides of what soon became an urban street.

Well before the middle of the 19th century the narrow, winding “twittens” of Hook’s Lane, Head Passage and Little London were well established, each containing several crowded dwellings and an even larger number of poor families, although the names of even these dark alleyways changed with time. Ailsworth’s Lane and Russell Place were not always so called – and the Luftwaffe was to demonstrate, that in the case of the latter, it was possible to alter more than merely the name.  King Street came to an abrupt end with Deacon’s Corner on the right, and the courtyard known as Landgate Square on the left — a collection of ancient cottages surrounding a busy pump and divided from the street by iron railings.

By Victorian times the square was occupied by poor — often labouring — families who shared the most basic sanitary amenities and whose rented cottages showed the wear and tear of centuries of occupation , as well as, no doubt, neglect by landlords.    My great-grandfather, Edwin Thomas Rhodes, settled in the far right hand corner of the Square following his marriage in 1871 and his brother, William, was a neighbour to the south.   The early deaths of the latter and his wife did not reduce the number of Rhodes households in the Square as several of their sons occupied premises there well into the 20th century. Even before these brothers set up home in the Square, the nearby cottages in Head’s Passage, Hook’s Lane. Bridge Place and King Street itself, were crammed with his parents and siblings, a number of his uncles and aunts and many cousins. It seems that in mid-Victorian Rye. Landgate was overflowing with mariners, hawkers and fishmongers of the Rhodes family — as were also Brooks Row, Huckstep’s Row, Cliff  Cottages, Church Square and the Union Workhouse!

In their early married days. William and Kitty lodged with Bill Batchelor and family, but the latter was evicted as an “objectionable tenant” in 1886!  The terrible floods which hit the town in February 1882, affected the Landgate almost as much as some other districts , and the smell of the worms apparently pervaded the area for some time afterwards. These events punctuated the lives of my Landgate forbears and the childhood memories of my grandfather’s generation were dominated by fish: mackerel, shrimps and eels, hung up to dry all over the house. The children sorted the seaweed from the shrimps and sold them boiled to passers by.  On learning all this a modern resident of one of these homes has now decided she can not rid the house of the smell of the fish she never detected before.

Occupations of the inhabitants of the Square at this time included coal porters, boot makers , longshoremen, fellmongers and charwomen. The disastrous fire which seriously damaged Edwin’s home and endangered the lives of his whole family at Christmas 1892 was related in A Poor Man’s Rye.  It was followed by a move across the Square to No 1, but not before Edwin’s losses had been ameliorated by the proceeds of a smoking concert at his local , the Queen’s Head, and since my talk, Frank Palmer has unearthed the published thanks of Edwin and his neighbour Henry Taylor for the prompt philanthropy of the leading townspeople. Edwin may have been well known at the Queen’s Head, even though he appears not to have succumbed to the shame of public inebriation in the manner of some of his relatives. The Court Harold Lodge , of which he was a long standing member, met there for many years and he undoubtedly also attended the “Mock Mayor” celebrations on the same premises before their inevitable demise in the 1870s.  On one occasion he and his brother William were involved in a violent brawl in King Street when they were both set upon outside the Tower Inn by a riotous gang from Hastings but the magistrates dismissed the protests of the “furriners” when they complained that it wasn’t all their fault. So nothing ever stuck to Edwin.

He and his wife Sally remained in No 1 for nearly forty years, by which time the occupants of the neighbouring cottages had changed but were still populated by Rye families, William Almond (alias Amon) and his family being one – including the legendary “Cod” Amon, a larger than life character in more ways than one. Edwin saw his old cottage renovated and re-occupied and witnessed another generation of children growing up in the Square and playing around the pump, which remained as permanent reminder of the disastrous December night in 1892. Long after his own longshore days were over, Edwin enjoyed sitting outside his house in the Square and watching the world go by, up and down King Street- then. as now, a very busy thoroughfare.

© Peter Ewart.

The Lamb family were the greatest power in Rye for 250 years but their house is probably more famous as the home of the expatriate American writer Henry James and later, the writer E.F. Benson.

Lamb House (Drawing by Brian Hargreaves)

It is a modest brick-fronted Georgian house completed  by James Lamb in 1723, the same year in which he became Mayor for the first time.

One of the most famous stories about Lamb House concerns George I.   In 1726 the King was returning from Hanover to open Parliament when he was driven ashore by a terrible storm, landing at Camber Sands.   James Lamb escorted the King to his house where the family entertained him for three days though George spoke very little English and the Lambs knew no   German.  On the very first night Mrs Lamb gave birth to a baby boy.  The King  agreed to act as godfather at the christening of the baby in St Mary’s church; the boy was named George.

The Garden House (destroyed 1940) with Lamb House on the right

The family sold the house in 1860. Some thirty years later Henry James visited Rye and  was attracted to the house, n ot expecting he could ever acquire it.  But in 1899, age 55 and already an established literary figure on both sides of the Atlantic,  he was able to report ‘It has fallen’ and he bought the property for £2000.  He spent most of the last 18 years of his life in Lamb Hsome of his ouse and wrote some of his most highly regarded works here, including The Awkward Age, The Wings of a Dove, The Ambassadors and The Golden Bowl.      In the winter he dictated his work to his secretary in the green Room on the first floor but in the summer months he preferred the Garden House which stood at the top of West Stree0.   t at right angles to the main house.  Unfortunately, the Garden House was destroyed by a bomb in 1940.   

Henry James entertained many eminent figures of the day at Lamb House, among them H.G. Wells,  A.C.and E.F. Benson, Max Beerbohm. Hilaire Belloc, G.K. Chesterton, Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Ford Maddox Ford, Edmund Gosse, Rudyard Kipling,  Hugh Walpole  and  Edith Wharton.

After James’ death  in 1918 the house became the home of  brothers, A.C. and E.F. Benson.    The view from the bow window of the Garden House was to give E.F. Benson the inspiration for his Mapp and Lucia novels. 

In 1950 the widow of Henry James’ nephew and heir,  Mrs Henry James Jr., presented Lamb House to the National Trust.   It is opento visitors two days a week April – October.   Besides the  furniture, library, portraits and Jamesian memorabilia on display, visitors can stroll in the lovely walled garden where occasional performances e.g. of Shakespeare plays are staged.  As for E.F. Benson, regular tours  are conductedwhich connect events and people in the Mapp and Lucia books to their Rye locations.

Further information on the Lambs, the house and its residents is available on other parts of this website,  via the Internet and in the National Trust booklet Henry James and Lamb House.   Further information  on writers who have lived in Rye is available here and on Rye Eye –> Literary Rye.

A Brief History of Rye Cattle Market

Slightly adapted from  Rye’s Own 150 (January 2007)

Note preceding the article:  A remarkable account of Rye Cattle Market appeared in a 1937 Handbook, demonstrating  how well Rye Market was doing in the period just before World War Two. This success was carried into the forties. From 1970 onwards support dwindled. The Market was closed as a result of the Foot and Mouth outbreak at the beginning of the Millennium . Sadly it failed to re-open and is now a car park.   The article is in two parts:  1.  The Market to 1937     2.  Rye Market Today (1937)

I.  Rye Cattle Market to 1937

Rye, easily accessible and on the edge of Romney Marsh known for its sheet,  proved to be ideally located to become a market,town and a centre for the gathering of producers and the bartering stock,  produce and commodities.

For many years, the market was held on the site of Market Road and the highway of Cinque Port Street, the Tolls being collected by the Pomfrets, a local  landowning  and banking family.�
During the  nineteenth century as  the use  of highways increased and trade expanded,  more convenient and effective arrangements were desire d so  the farmers and dealers of the district  convened meetings with the objective of obtaining a sufficient space to hold markets for the purchase and sale of livestock without interfering with the activities of the  town’s tradespeaple and travellers passing through. the town.

The outcome of the series of meetings was The Rye Cattle Market Company Limited,  regitered in the year 1859.  It was subscribed to and supported by local farmers, dealers and tradespeople. The  aims of the Dompany as set out in the Memorandum of Association were “to provide a new Cattle Market site at Rye with the requiste fittings, erections, roadways, building and the doing of all such other things as are incidedntal or conducive to the attainment of such objects.”

A plot of land was acquired from the Rev. George Augustus Lamb who had entered into a contract for buying it from the South Eastern Railway Company.   The site consisted of two acres of level ground adjoining the railway station and was thus close to the centre of town and convenient for producers in the surrounding districts. In the same year as the Company was incorporated a contract was entered into for the erection of a Central Market Hall and arrangements made for pens to accommodate stock entering the market. The Company also arranged for the provision of railway sidings to the market so stock could be transported to and from  Rye by rail.

Increasing trade led to a further Hall being built in the year 1873 on the eastern side of the market premises.  This building was known as the Agricultural Hall and it was here that the main portion of the annual cattle shows were staged for many years.    The hiring of a further piece of land from the South Eastern Railway in 1883 increased the market space to 2.5 acres.  A decade later a part of the market was paved with boulders and covered with tar and road sweepings and the market completely enclosed by a new fence.

As there was a considerable amount of capital tied up in the Agricultural Hall,  the Directors decided in 1912 to sell it and use the money for various improvements to the Market.   This made it possible in 1913 to pave the whole \market making it suitable for vehicles bringing stock.  Throughout the  seventy-nine years years   of  business [i.e. 1859 - 1937, the date of the article] the premises have been kept in good repair with further improvements carried out. 

It is interesting to record that the first Toll Collector of the Rye Cattle Market in 1859 was Mr James Ney who held this position for a period of fifty-nine years and upon his death in 1914 he was succeeded by his son who is our present Toll Collector.  There has therefore been a continuity of service for seventy-nine years.

 II. Rye Market  Today (1937)

The Rye Market is owned by the Rye Cattle Market Company Limited, which is now in its seventy-ninth year of business. The market remains upon the site where it was originally established in 1859 and is still situated for the holding of sales.  The market premises are well preserved and are maintained in excellent repair. All permanent pens are of iron with cement or brick foundations and
are cleaned and scrubbed after every market. The market is controlled by the Company’s Directors who are composed of practical agriculturalists fully cognizant with the local conditions and requirements.   The Company have always shown that they are prepared to receive helpful suggestions for the improvement in any connection with the market or the working thereof.

Markets are held on alternate Wednesdays for general sales and business. Special markets for sale of sheep and lambs, an annual ram sale and special Christmas Market for the sale of fat stock are also held, notices of same being displayed beforehand. A produce sale is held at the Market Hall on alternative Fridays previous to Market day.

The number of animals entered for sale in Rye Market during the twelve months ending 17th. February, 1937, was 44,049 made up as follows:-

Sheep and lambs:  36683
Beasts and calves:   3596
Horses:                                      7
Pigs:                                  3762

There was also a considerable head of poultry and a large quantity of eggs, fruit, vegetables and other produce sold in the market. 

Sheep and Lambs.     
It will be noted from the records of animals entering the market, that there is a high percentage of sheep and lambs and this is due to the fact that Rye Market is situated on the borders of Romney Marsh and in the midst of a sheep rearing disstrict.  As many as 4,990  fat sheep and lambs have been sold in one day of an ordinary market.   A spacious section of the market is therefore reserved for sheep, comprised of iron pens, the floors being paved with bricks or asphalt.  Total accommodation for sheep is 5200.

The special sales for sheep and lambs are usually held in July and August and these attract a great number of buyers from adjoining Counties.  A Ram sale is also held in October, at which stock from the well-known flocks of Romney Marsh are offered for sale.

Beasts and Calves
There is a steady supply of Fat Cattle throughout the year and,accommodation is provided for 200 beasts.  The market has been authorised as an approved centre for the sale of Fat Cattle under the Cattle Industry Emergency Provisions Bill, 1934 and 1936, which has resulted in a considerable increase in the number of beasts entering the market. There is a fair trade for calves and covered accommodation for 150 animals is available.

Pig Market
The pig market is situated in a sheltered section of the market place, the pens being of iron with brick or asphalt floors, the majority of which have corrugated sheets along the sides as a protection against the elements.   The predominating class of pigs offered are fat pigs and store pigs which constitute a steady supply and demand throughout the year. There is a continual increase in the number of pigs offered for sale annually, as may be indicated by the following figures: 

 1928 Entries – 1477,      1937 Entries – 3762, being an increase of 2285 for the year.     There is an accommodation for 250 fat pigs.

Corn Market
The Corn Market was for many years held at the  George Hotel and was transferred to the new Market premises in the year 1860.  Corn Merchants and Dealers have their stands in the main Market Hall on ordinary market days, where a steady business is well maintained.