History of Rye Harbour:   Beginnings  and Timeline

by Jo Kirkham

                                                                                                                                                                   

 Rye has always been a port, starting from the time when it was an island. The Roman iron production in the area was under the control of the Roman Fleet, Classis Britannica who exported it from here to the rest of Europe. A senior Cinque Port from the 12th Century, it was the home of the Royal Galleys from 1240, and has been a fishing, shipbuilding and trading port throughout 1000 years. It has also been very involved with pirating, smuggling and coastguard patrols.

Pirating ships, cargoes and their sailors for ransom was a lucrative source of income for the Town and a legitimate one in time of war, when Ryers were licensed by the Crown as Privateers.

A specialized lantern  used for secret communication is kept in the Museum.

Wool was sent out in return for luxury goods, including spirits, tobacco and tea. There were few convictions as the juries were local,  many buildings in Rye were modified with secret cupboards, panels and ‘hidey-holes’ for the contraband, and there were secret passages and ways through attics to enable the smugglers to escape capture.

Roman Times
No evidence has been found of  a Roman settlement  where Rye now stands but remains have been found at Playden. In Roman times the River Rother flowed into the sea at New Romney.

1189
By this date Henry II had conferred Cinque Ports status on Rye and Winchelsea as  ‘Limbs’ of Hastings and subsequently they became full members of the Confederation.

1287
Old Winchelsea, sited possibly where Camber is to-day, was destroyed by storms. The course of the River Rother altered  to nearly its present position.

1350
Edward III and the Black Prince fought the Spanish in Rye Bay.

1375
The Rother and the sea undercut cliffs and caused the eastern part of Rye to disappear. From this period until the twentieth century the main docking area was on the Strand and along the River Tillingham.

1377
The French plundered Rye and took  the Church bells.

1400’s
Rye was important for transporting fighting men to France during the Hundred Years War.

At the beginning of this century Rye was considered one of the finest of the Cinque Port harbours. Henry VIII demanded more armaments and cannon, and built  Camber Castle. Throughout Tudor times, as in Medieval times, Rye was important for the  storage and shipment of iron.

1550
An Act of Parliament was passed to try and stop harbour silting.

1573
Elizabeth I visited the town and stayed at Grene Hall, now the Old Custom House in Church Square.

1600’s
Continued silting of the harbour led to a further decline in the  importance of Rye as a port.

1720-23
Three Acts of Parliament set up a Harbour Commission, with Commissioners. The Harbour continued to silt up and the attempt to construct a new one lasted over  sixty  years The famous engineer John Smeaton was brought in toward the end of the struggle and the finished harbour was called–somewhat unfairly–Smeaton’s Harbour. It failed within three months, in 1787.  

1801
The Harbour at Rye Act authorised Tolls for maintaining the harbour at Rye.

1806
Rye Harbour became a separate village,

1808
The Royal Military Canal was completed as a protection against Napoleon’s
invasion. Throughout the nineteenth century there were constant battles between the landowners and the harbour authorities.

1813
Scot’s Float Sluice, on the Rother, was rebuilt despite protests from Rye.

1817
Ryers attacked and destroyed  the new river Brede dam which obstructed navigation.

1818
The Lord Chief Justice found in favour of Ryers re the Brede Dam.

1830
Rioters damaged Scots Float, but they were acquitted.

1833
Differences were resolved by another Harbour of Rye Act. A temporary nnlull ensued.

1835
An Eastern Jetty was built at the mouth of the Rother

1841
The Railway came to Rye

1882
Storms almost blocked the harbour;  this led to a decline in usage.

1893
  A dredger was bought with help from the Rother Commissioners, which led to the two interests co-operating to keep a clear river channel.

1917-18
Treasury gave a grant to keep the harbour open

1920-21
More storms caused problems with the river mouth.

1929
New schemes (Plat Taylor plans) were devised to improve the Harbour

1930
The Land Drainage Act was passed and Land Drainage Boards created nation-wide. The many old land drainage commissions were abolished and in the Rye area the Rother and Jury’s Gut Catchment Board also took over the operations of Rye Harbour and the sea defences.

1941-44
The Admiralty made improvements to the harbour and dredged its mouth

1950
The Kent River Board planned a drainage project including barrage

1951
The Sea Fish Industry Act imposed a duty to keep the harbour open for the fishing industry.

1962
The barrage plan was abandoned

1965Â
Responsibility for the Harbour was transferred to Kent River Authority

1966
A plan to build 23 pumping stations in low lying areas to pump flood waters into the tidal river, independent of the tide level, was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture–which resulted in less silting.

1967
Alsford Wharf was constructed, bringing more harbour traffic.

1974
Responsibility for the Harbour was transferred to Southern Water Authority.

1976
New by-laws were enacted and a Harbour Advisory Committee formed to advise on policy.

1988
The Harbour Authority was made responsible for pilotage services.

1989
The Water Act transferred Harbour responsibility to the National Rivers Authority.

1993
A Five Year Plan  was enacted to improve harbour conditions and health and safety
and to provide more moorings.

1996
Responsibility for the Harbour was transferred to the Environment Agency Rye Bay Plan.

1998
A new five year management plan was developed in order to continue to improve the harbour. There are signs of an increase in commercial activity thanks to Rastrums, the new owners of Alsford’s Wharf. The fishing industry continues to thrive and pleasure craft numbers are being maintained in a competitive climate.

12th to 13th Century Cinque Ports Ship

Before Richard II died in 1189 he had conferred Cinque Port privileges on Rye. By 1229, Rye was supplying ships and men both for the King’s expeditions and the defence of the realm. Henry III spent money repairing sea walls and in 1249 ordered the building of ’the Castle of La Rye’ as an important defence against the pillaging of Rye by the French and pirates.

The castle was originally known as Baddings Tower from the name of the Ward in which it was situated and later as Ypres Tower after its temporary owner John of Ypres (1439 – 1494). Early in the 14th Century Rye had become a Cinque Port in its own right. At the height of its Medieval prosperity a variety of 300 – 400 ships could be seen in the Harbour and it was a major port.

The harbour between Rye and Winchelsea consisted of saltings and mud flats covered at high spring tides. The Brede was a larger winding river opening into the main port at Rye with an outlet to the sea. A large creek formed on the Marsh and was protected by a shingle head. This creek was known as the Wainway and was a haven for large ships to shelter.

Throughout the 13th Century numerous storms and a rise in sea level destroyed the port of Old Winchelsea and the River Rother altered its course from its exit to the sea at New Romney to a new position near Rye. This was due to the inundations of the Marshes after the great storms from 1234 to 1336.

The 14th century brought calamity.  There was the Hundred Years War with France, and in the summer of 1348 the Black Death struck England; it killed over a third of the population and left towns and villages desolate.  Trade was slack although timber and wine and captured cargoes provided a living for some survivors. Henry V undoubtedly used the port to transport men to France prior to the Battle of Agincourt (1415), using the Confederation fleet.

Introduction to Harbour History

Map of Tudor Rye Harbour

 

The period was a time of change with the opening up of new foreign trade routes and newly designed warships using cannons.

Rye remained important although its influence in the sphere of international commerce and warfare declined.

 It was a notable harbour of refuge from storms and valuable timber was exported from Rye, mostly by foreign ships.

Fishing was the main living of Rye seamen and Henry VIII ordered supplies of fresh fish regularly for his Court.

John Fletcher of Rye, a privateer and possible secret agent in France, is said to have been responsible for introducing the ‘fore’ and ‘aft’ rigs in ships to Henry VIII’s naval architects. Henry’s demand for ordnance and more cannons for his ships meant Rye became a storage and shipping port for the iron from the Weald.

The silting of the harbour tended to be a problem which was difficult to solve during Tudor times. Large sums of money were spent on jetties, quays, cranes and storehouses at Strand Quay. By 1570 there were complaints about silt causing fishing boats to become stranded and having to wait for a high tide to refloat them.

Tudor Map 1572 showing Rye Harbour

1580 saw two groynes built at Strand Quay, known in Tudor times as ’Rye Cryke’, forming the harbour arms. The narrow opening between them helped scour the channel and stir up silt so that vessels could navigate the river.

At this date Rye was the home to 1200 tons of shipping of varying tonnage. The port was one of the most important towns in the country and the largest and most prosperous town in Sussex.

Rye ships carried coal from Newcastle, but most ships went to France and Northern Spain for wine and salt and to French and Flemish ports for timber and cloth. There was a cross-channel service from Rye to Dieppe and Rye was a transit port for the Royal Mail. 

Throughout the period there was constant feuding between landowners and those using the harbour. Increased ’innings’, reclaiming the marsh and silting caused navigational problems within the harbour. To reduce siltation, engineers built timber sluice gates and embankments within the tideway. This was achieved with the ‘help’ of the people of Rye.

Rye was divided into Wards and townspeople were forced to help build the sluices and embankments. This was known as ’forced works’. All householders of ability from one or two Wards a day were ordered to build or pay 6 pence per person in default. The penalty was subsequently raised to 12 pence. Townspeople were called to work by the beating of a drum.

At the end of the Tudor period, Rye still possessed a genuine port and harbour despite the silting problems.

Map of Rye Harbour

In the 13th century there occurred a series of violent storms spread over 100 years. These storms destroyed the town and port of Old Winchelsea that stood south of Rye (a site probably about half a mile out to sea);  this was to the advantage of Rye.

The shore line disintegrated allowing the sea to flood in, creating a large tidal estuary that surrounded the town of Rye and flooded all of the river valleys.

In mid Tudor times Rye’s harbour became the largest and busiest port on the south coast, more important than Southampton and Portsmouth. The reason for this was its proximity to the continent of Europe which made the crossing of the English Channel relatively safe for the small ships of the time.

 

Trade included the export of wood, cloth and iron products. Coal was imported in large quantities from Newcastle. During the Tudor period ships of 150 tons were able to use the port, but as the harbour silted and shallowed larger ships could not enter. �
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There were other contributing factors in Rye’s gradual decline in maritime importance. Besides the diminishing size of ships which could use the port, the end of wars with France reduced the need for major ports in the South East. This was reinforced by a change in trade emphasis from the South East to the West of England. The slave trade and the opening up of the Americas increased the importance of Bristol and Liverpool at the expense of Rye.

The continuous siltation of the River Rother continued to cause  problems to shipping. This natural process has continued over the last 700 years since the sea first inundated the land. Natural siltation of the Rother occurred this way:

The tide cycle is two tides every 24 hours. With an incoming tide flowing into the river system silt is carried in suspension in the water. As a tide reaches its peak the velocity of the tide slows to a stop. The suspended silt then settles to the bottom with the receding tide leaving a film of silt covering all the areas covered by the preceding tide.

Rye Bay

The decline in the importance of Rye as a port due to the continued silting of the old harbour led to plans to construct a new harbour, eventually completed in 1787. This was known as Smeaton’s Harbour but the project failed within three months of opening due to siltation and shingle deposits at the new harbour mouth.

Introduction to Harbour History

John Smeaton FRS, known particularly for the construction of Eddystone lighthouse, was brought in as a consultant and reported in 1763, 39 years after work had commenced. 

The retreat of the sea, and the process of silting up, resulted in the abandonment of Winchelsea as a place of trade by the middle of the 16th century and the serious decline by the end of the century in the usefulness of that of Rye. So rapid was the retreat of the sea that Camber Castle, commanding the entrance to the harbours of both Winchelsea and Rye was abandoned in the 1640’s as it had ceased to serve any useful purpose.

Frederico Genebelli, an Italian engineer, put forward a plan in 1593 for a western channel as a solution to the decay of the port of Rye; this channel is shown in this map based on Symonson’s map of 1594. (A copy of Symonson’s map hangs in Rye Town Hall).The corporation saw it as benefiting Winchelsea rather than Rye and refused further dealings with Genebelli.

There was a steady polarisation of conflict between town and country interests in the 17th.century.. The former attributed the decay of the port to the inning of land by developers which hindered or stopped the scouring process of the tides and prevented navigation up the Appledore Channel.

 

The aim of landowners was to gain more land, consolidate, protect and drain it and confine the port to the south-west side of the town. In 1698 Commissioners of the Navy and Elder Brethren of Trinity House concluded that Rye’s harbour was almost entirely lost and in no condition to be preserved.

It seems that the country interest prevailed for in 1723 an Act of Parliament provided for the making of a new cut or channel from Winchelsea Channel (the Brede) to the sea. This was the third in a succession of Acts in the 18th century dealing with the Harbour of Rye. For 63 years work on the New Harbour was spasmodically in progress but marked by incompetence, indecision, financial difficulties, rivalry and nepotism.

The prime source of information on the project for the New Harbour of Rye are the Minutes of the Harbour Commissioners. Correspondence, reports, accounts and papers have not yet been traced. The Minutes are often garbled and confused. It is by no means clear what the strategy or master plan was. John Smeaton writing in 1763 could only refer to ’what I apprehend to be the original scheme’, namely ’to bring the three rivers that now discharge themselves into the old harbour of Rye, through the new harbour’.

The junction of the new cut with the Brede is close to the hair-pin bend on the road leading from the A259 to Winchelsea Beach. The new cut ran parallel to the road from the bend to Winchelsea Beach village centre and behind the present line of bungalows which face the road; the site of the great sluice is behind the Ship Inn a few yards down Willow Lane.
 In the village, just opposite the area where the shop now stands, the cut swung 45 degrees to the left and the outer channel of the New Harbour is readily seen running up to the present sea wall . The remains of the east stone pier, and at low tide the two pier heads or harbour arms, are still visible.

In 1762, 38 years after the work commenced, an Act of Parliament permitted the Commissioners to let the sea into the new channel but only as far as the junction with the Brede or Winchelsea Channel. It was at this critical stage that the advice of John Smeaton FRS (1724-1792) who had designed and built Eddystone lighthouse, was sought. His professional backing was seen as underpinning the project. Briefly he advised uniting the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede and forcing the three rivers through the new cut to the sea. His plan involved making a new channel for the Rother to the north of the Town, although he accepted that a southern cut would be acceptable.

Smeaton was never the resident engineer and his name has come to be associated with a technical and managerial failure, and worse. John Collard has written that orders were succeeded by counter-orders, construction was followed by demolition, dredging by siltation. The Commissioners had opted for the southern route for the Rother. In June 1787 the Commissioners ordered that no vessel was to pass up the old channel towards Rye after 14 July. All trade was then passed through the New Harbour, mostly to the Strand wharf.

There were continual problems with keeping the harbour mouth open and free of accumulations of beach; there was evidence that land drainage into the new system was not proving successful. The autumn of 1787 was unusually wet, and all the levels became flooded to an alarming extent.�

 On 6 November 1787 the Harbour Commissioners, who were also Commissioners of the different Levels, recorded their despair and resolved to abandon the New Harbour and to re-open the old. All dams and walls were to be removed, all work suspended and the workmen dismissed.

In April 1789 the merchants tradesmen and owners of vessels recorded their sincere thanks to the Commissioners for having restored to them ’the Ancient Harbour of Rye’.

If Smeaton’s recommendations had been pursued with professional and managerial competence and energy, would the New Harbour have been successful and would the drainage of the Levels have been adequate?  Or would the forces of Nature still have proved too strong?   We may surmise, but we can never know.

 Sources and further reading:
Minutes of the Rye Harbour Commissioners: East Sussex Record Office KRA 1 1/1 h 1/2
John Meryon ,Account of the Origin and Formation of the Harbour of Rye… Rye Castle Museum
John Collard, A Maritime History of Rye 1978 (Ch.VI)
L.A.Vidler, A New History of Rye. 1934 and 1971,  pp.104-107
Graham Mayhew, Tudor Rye, 1987 (Ch.7)

Introduction to Harbour History

In 1851 a swing bridge to take the railway was completed across the River Rother permitting access to the Upper Rother. In 1903 this was replaced by a fixed bridge.

Rye River Barges were manoeuvred within the confines of the river, through sluice gates and amongst shipping, by the use of a ‘quant’ pole. The pole was placed in the river bed by a bargee standing at the bow of the barge facing the stern. The bargee then pushed the pole, at the same time walking along the barge, until he arrived at the stern. This operation was repeated as required, sometimes over long distances. If the wind was sufficient barges could sail on the river and along the Royal Military Canal.

Arriving at a bridge when water levels were high, the barge’s mast was easily lowered to allow the barge to glide under. The barges carried coal to the villages along the river valleys and returned carrying local bricks. In 1864, the river mouth was straightened and by 1870 shipping had increased, requiring more moorings. A steam tug, the  Erin, was acquired to carry out towage of shipping.

Trade improved when shingle needed for building concrete blocks at Dover Harbour was carried along the coast by ships from Rye. Large concrete blocks were also manufactured at Tram Road, Rye Harbour for the Dover Harbour piers. The blocks were transported by rail to a jetty close to the present Lifeboat House.

A number of these blocks still remain at Rye Harbour, having been used as a groyne to arrest the accumulation of shingle at the river mouth, situated at that time by Lime Kiln Cottage.

By the late 1800’s Rye was a thriving seaport with shipyards, sail lofts, pilotage, customs, chandlery and warehouses. In the 1880’s and 90’s J.S. Vidler (Mayor and Chairman of the Commissioners) and Friends ordered a fleet of ketch rigged barges of about 230 tons to keep Rye coasting trade alive. These were constructed in local Rye shipyards.

In 1893 the power of the Harbour Master was strengthened by 16 Byelaws, displayed on Strand Quay. Sailing ships of all kinds could be seen at the quay and by 1900 there were several steam trawlers.

Introduction to Harbour History

Rye Harbour Today

 Rye is still a small seaport. Its harbour is a mile from the sea on the River Rother with moorings within the river system of the town. The River Rother is joined by the rivers Tillingham and Brede at Rock Channel. Use is restricted to high water periods (about 5 hours) depending on the size of the vessels

The channel in the meandering river is well marked but the mudflats can be a nuisance to inattentive helmsmen. At low tide all vessels ground. Tidal levels vary throughout the year as can be seen by the photographs comparing very high tidal floods and low tides.

Maintenance of the harbour is the responsibility of the Environment Agency with a Harbour Masters Office at Rye Harbour, to the east of the river. The duties of the Environment Agency include navigation, water quality, flood defence, water resources, fishing, safety and emergency, conservation and recreation.

Today the harbour is used by a variety of vessels. The Rye Fishing fleet of around 20 vessels of some 9 metres in length is moored at the Fish Market. Up to 30 other fishing vessels also use the harbour mooring near to the Harbour Master’s Office. 

Very High Tide - 18th September 1997

The Local Nature Reserve (LNR) at Rye Harbour was established in 1970 by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act of 1949. It lies almost entirely within the Rye Harbour SSSI, see map, which is generally flat and low lying with no natural feature above 6m. The high points are the crests of shingle storm ridges built up over hundreds of years by the combined action of tides and storms. The low points are the sheltered areas between the ridges where saltmarsh developed on the regularly inundated land.

The influence of the sea has been greatly reduced during the last one hundred years by man-made sea defences. In addition, the naturally high water table has been lowered by a drainage system emptying into the rivers. These two factors have enabled a traditional agriculture of grazing with some arable. The loss of wetland has been partly offset by the extraction of the largest shingle ridges, creating pits.

Within the Nature Reserve there are many habitats resulting from a variety of soils; a gradient of salinity; varying degrees of exposure to wind and flooding by the sea; water level; and different management practices.
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 The main habitats can be broadly described as: inter tidal; saltmarsh; reclaimed saltmarsh; drainage ditches; shingle ridges; sand; marsh; pits; scrub and woodland. Consequently there is a great variety of species with 3,007 recorded to the end of 1997. These include many that are considered rare and endangered.

The area also contains considerable historic interest with military fortifications from the 16th, 19th and 20th centuries, a lifeboat disaster and evidence of man’s early and continuing efforts to defend the land from the sea.

 This flat, open and historic landscape, with its low level of development, proximity to the sea and network of footpaths is popular with visitors. It can provide a very special experience.

There is a good network of footpaths that enables much of the Nature Reserve to be visited from access points in Rye Town, Winchelsea Beach and Rye Harbour.

There is a small, unmanned information centre in the car park at Rye Harbour and four bird watching hides to help the visitor see some of the wealth of wildlife here.

 

Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve 

 

The FRIENDS was founded in 1973 to raise money in order to improve and enlarge the Reserve and to do so by encouraging interest in the conservation of wildlife and scenic beauty within the area.

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve protects a rich and varied fauna and flora among the shingle ridges, salt and grazing marshes, gravel pits and lagoons at the mouth of the River Rother. You are welcome to visit at all times free of charge.
 

A Safe Haven for many years, Rye Harbour has been a nesting place for birds such as Common, Sandwich and Little Terns as well as Ringed Plover and Redshank and is a noted ‘stop-over’ for other shorebirds, many of which can be seen to advantage from the hides at the Ternery and Wader Pools and at Castle Water

Conservation work at Rye Harbour involves caring for a large part of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) which covers 728ha (1800 acres). Work includes creating islands, cutting invasive willows, grazing grassland, building fences and creating new habitats such as shallow margins around the old gravel pits.

Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve contribute to the work of the Reserve in a variety of ways. It runs the Lime Kiln Cottage Information Centre, created the Wader Pool near the River, made a major contribution to the purchase of Castle Water by the Sussex Wildlife Trust, part-funds the Nature Reserve wardening, has constructed four bird watching hides (one with wheelchair access) and actively helps with all the conservation work.

Members are kept up to date with the Reserve’s progress by regular Newsletters which also give details of guided walks, lectures and other events. Guided Walks, led by the wardens, are detailed at Lime Kiln Cottage. You do not have to be a birdwatcher or a botanist to understand and enjoy the Nature Reserve in their company.

By joining the Friends you can do something now to preserve these important wildlife habitats and the unique character of the area.

To join the Friends and support the Reserve please send a cheque (minimum £5) with your name and address to us via snail-mail. Our address can be found at the bottom of this page.

Become one of our 1500 Friends around the globe and help us to conserve and enhance the amazing environment which is Rye Harbour.

For more information please visit http://www.wildrye.info/reserve/friends/

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve
2 Watch Cottages
Nook Beach
Winchelsea
East Sussex
TN36 4LU

All donations greatly appreciated!

Introduction to Rye Harbour History