The Ancient Town of Rye

We were able to have one day of touring this trip over to the UK and so we decided to stay within the East Sussex and Kent areas of England.  A short drive away is the Ancient Town of Rye, one of the Cinque Port towns of medieval England. (A "Cinque Port" town meant that the town was obliged to provide the king ships and men to ward off pirates and invading countries--namely France-- and in exchange, the town was free from taxes, and therefore, considerable wealth for its citizens.) The town is no longer near the mouth of the channel because of centuries of silting, and so has remained small and retained its medieval charm.

The old town has these cobblestone streets and quaint houses--lots of writers, including Henry James, called this town home because of the scenery.  Lots of half-timber Tudor and Elizabethan houses are to be found, still in use. 

 St. Mary's Church has stood at the highest point of the town for over 900 years.  We climb up the turret clock tower for beautiful views of the Romney Marshes, Rye, and even out to the Dungeness Power Station way off into the distance. The clock is the oldest in the country, constructed in 1561 and has an 18 foot long pendulum that is supposedly the inspiration for the nursery rhyme "Hickory, Dickory, Dock."  The pendulum hangs through the floor and swings in gently in the entrance hall of the church. 

St. Mary's Church

 To get up to the turret tower, you have to walk through an extremely narrow passage, and then up some extremely rickety ladders, past the church bells that were once stolen by invading French forces in 1377.  A group of men from Rye went to retrieve them, and some other loot, the following year. 

super narrow passage to the clock tower

Bells in the towers--most were taller than me.

 The rooftops of Rye are quite stunning, with all the angles.  Signs assured us, as we climbed higher and higher, that the church officials had done everything to ensure a safe environment at the top of the tower but that we should still be careful. 

 At the top, there was only a thin bit of metal, about thigh height preventing anyone from going over the edges in the gaps between the turret tops.  You can see the rod just to the left behind Will in the photo below....  Um, yeah, I certainly felt super safe up there!

Views first, safety second

 The weather vain was very cool and was made in 1705 and still accurately shows the wind-- which, admittedly isn't too hard to do. 

 We could see, and eventually went into, the Ypres Tower, one of Rye's oldest buildings.  It was part of the town's defenses in the 12th century and over the years has been a jail, a fortress, and today is a small museum of local history.

Ypres Tower and the Romney Marshes

obligatory self-portrait

 The church yard of St. Mary's is full of grave stones and something I had never seen: above ground concrete full-body grave marker.  I am not sure if that is a true sarcophagus or not, but it was creepy to see a church yard full of graves like it.

I really hope there isn't a body underneath that

The funniest part of the old houses was the heights of the door.  I am a GIANT compared to the medieval folks who lived in these houses.  To be fair, this door seemed to be the smallest that we saw, but most were on the short side.  I would constantly be ducking my head if I were live in any one of these homes.

hobbit-size doors!

Clock tower