Bitofapilchard
In the stocks..........
......the old stocks outside the Ypres Tower. They face immediately towards the Ypres Inn (it was just behind me as I took this shot), so the potential for ultimate humiliation couldn't be underestimated for the poor souls who ended up in them. Imagine the reaction from the drinkers! Rye, Sussex
-------------------
Bank Holiday weekend away in Rye. An added bonus was the Jazz Festival being held in Rye which we didn't know about until we got there.
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. In medieval times, however, as an important member of the Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel and almost entirely surrounded by the sea.
Rye is officially a civil parish but with its historic roots has the status of a town. During its history its association with the sea has included providing ships for the service of the King in time of war, and being involved with smuggling gangs of the 18th and 19th centuries such as the notorious Hawkhurst Gang who used its inns such as The Mermaid Inn and The Olde Bell Inn, connected by secret passage way.
Those historic roots and its charm make it a tourist destination, and much of its economy is based on that: there are a number of hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, tea rooms and restaurants, as well as other attractions, catering for the visitor. There is a small fishing fleet, and Rye Harbour has facilities for yachts and other vessels.
In the mid 1980s, Rye was used as a filming location by LWT for its adaptation of the Mapp and Lucia novels. The post-Monty Python film Yellowbeard also had a few scenes filmed on the cobbled street.
The feature film Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. was filmed in Mermaid Street. It starred Gregory Peck and was made in 1951. Mermaid Street serves as Hornblower's wife and mother's house in Portsmouth.
Other residents of the town and environs have included:
-Joan Aiken (1924–2004), children's author, daughter of Conrad Aiken
-Tom Baker (1934–), British actor, best known for playing the Doctor in Doctor Who between 1974-1981.
-Edward Burra (1905–1976), painter, draughtsman and printmaker, born near Rye and lived in the town from time to time in the 1920s and 1930s
-Paul Nash (1889–1946), WWI artist, lived in East Street in the 1930s
-John Christopher (1922–2012), science fiction author. The 1980s British television series based on his trilogy, The Tripods, was filmed near his house.
-Tom Chaplin singer of the band Keane
-Monica Edwards (1912–1998), children's author who lived at Rye Harbour and set her Romney Marsh novels in the area, renaming Rye Dunsford.
-John Fletcher (1579–1625), Jacobean playwright and solicitor.
-Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943), seminal lesbian writer.
-Monica and Gabriela Irimia (1982–), the Cheeky Girls who live in cheeky towers in the town.
-Sir Paul McCartney (1942–), musician and former Beatle. McCartney's children attended the local schools in Rye.
-Spike Milligan (1918–2002), comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and vice-president of the Rye Rugby Club.
-John Ryan (1921–2009), Although born in Edinburgh, this British Author/Cartoonist famed for his TV cartoon Captain Pugwash, was a resident of Rye.
-Malcolm Saville (1901–82), author of nearly 80 children's books, largely thrillers and adventure stories. Saville was the creator of the Lone Pine series of books, a number of which were set in Rye, including The Gay Dolphin Adventure and Rye Royal.
-Russell Thorndike (1885–1972), who set his Dr Syn novels about smuggling on the marshes.
-Philippa Urquhart (1940–), British actress.
-Sir Anthony van Dyck did several drawings of the town, unusually detailed for him, and probably done to pass the time until a ship to the continent arrived.
-The ancestors of Jamaican reggae artist Bob Marley reportedly hail from Rye; his most recent ancestor, great-grandfather Frederick, was born in the town in 1820.
-Geoffrey Bagley (1901–1992) Canadian war artist who settled in Rye post war & then worked to preserve the town's historic mementos and places.
In the stocks..........
......the old stocks outside the Ypres Tower. They face immediately towards the Ypres Inn (it was just behind me as I took this shot), so the potential for ultimate humiliation couldn't be underestimated for the poor souls who ended up in them. Imagine the reaction from the drinkers! Rye, Sussex
-------------------
Bank Holiday weekend away in Rye. An added bonus was the Jazz Festival being held in Rye which we didn't know about until we got there.
Rye is a small town in East Sussex, which stands approximately two miles from the open sea and is at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. In medieval times, however, as an important member of the Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel and almost entirely surrounded by the sea.
Rye is officially a civil parish but with its historic roots has the status of a town. During its history its association with the sea has included providing ships for the service of the King in time of war, and being involved with smuggling gangs of the 18th and 19th centuries such as the notorious Hawkhurst Gang who used its inns such as The Mermaid Inn and The Olde Bell Inn, connected by secret passage way.
Those historic roots and its charm make it a tourist destination, and much of its economy is based on that: there are a number of hotels, guest houses, B&Bs, tea rooms and restaurants, as well as other attractions, catering for the visitor. There is a small fishing fleet, and Rye Harbour has facilities for yachts and other vessels.
In the mid 1980s, Rye was used as a filming location by LWT for its adaptation of the Mapp and Lucia novels. The post-Monty Python film Yellowbeard also had a few scenes filmed on the cobbled street.
The feature film Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. was filmed in Mermaid Street. It starred Gregory Peck and was made in 1951. Mermaid Street serves as Hornblower's wife and mother's house in Portsmouth.
Other residents of the town and environs have included:
-Joan Aiken (1924–2004), children's author, daughter of Conrad Aiken
-Tom Baker (1934–), British actor, best known for playing the Doctor in Doctor Who between 1974-1981.
-Edward Burra (1905–1976), painter, draughtsman and printmaker, born near Rye and lived in the town from time to time in the 1920s and 1930s
-Paul Nash (1889–1946), WWI artist, lived in East Street in the 1930s
-John Christopher (1922–2012), science fiction author. The 1980s British television series based on his trilogy, The Tripods, was filmed near his house.
-Tom Chaplin singer of the band Keane
-Monica Edwards (1912–1998), children's author who lived at Rye Harbour and set her Romney Marsh novels in the area, renaming Rye Dunsford.
-John Fletcher (1579–1625), Jacobean playwright and solicitor.
-Radclyffe Hall (1880–1943), seminal lesbian writer.
-Monica and Gabriela Irimia (1982–), the Cheeky Girls who live in cheeky towers in the town.
-Sir Paul McCartney (1942–), musician and former Beatle. McCartney's children attended the local schools in Rye.
-Spike Milligan (1918–2002), comedian, writer, musician, poet, playwright and vice-president of the Rye Rugby Club.
-John Ryan (1921–2009), Although born in Edinburgh, this British Author/Cartoonist famed for his TV cartoon Captain Pugwash, was a resident of Rye.
-Malcolm Saville (1901–82), author of nearly 80 children's books, largely thrillers and adventure stories. Saville was the creator of the Lone Pine series of books, a number of which were set in Rye, including The Gay Dolphin Adventure and Rye Royal.
-Russell Thorndike (1885–1972), who set his Dr Syn novels about smuggling on the marshes.
-Philippa Urquhart (1940–), British actress.
-Sir Anthony van Dyck did several drawings of the town, unusually detailed for him, and probably done to pass the time until a ship to the continent arrived.
-The ancestors of Jamaican reggae artist Bob Marley reportedly hail from Rye; his most recent ancestor, great-grandfather Frederick, was born in the town in 1820.
-Geoffrey Bagley (1901–1992) Canadian war artist who settled in Rye post war & then worked to preserve the town's historic mementos and places.