The pictures on this page come from the Derek Phillips collection. They were all taken in and around the Phillips Yard in Rock Channel. The picture at the top of the page shows the yard with Rye as a background during the 1950’s. The shot of fishermen mending their nets is from a much earlier time, probably around 1910.
The picture bottom left was captioned ” A trawler being built at Rye, Sussex in 1925.It is part of a cutting from a magazine, the title of which we were unable to trace. The picture was accompanied by a short letter“Dear Sir, – Visiting Rye, Sussex in 1925, I was surprised to see what we were told was a trawler being built for the Lowestoft fishing fleet.
It seems curious that a large East Anglian port should not build all its ships to its own pattern. I send a photograph taken at the time.
Irene Walker Plymouth”
It seems that fishing folk were prepared to come a long way to have a quality trawler built by the Phillips Yard. The ma n with the bike looks like a young Herbert Phillips. Good looking cycle too, note the classy accetaline (carbide) lamp.
Phillips have built boats at the same premises in Rye since Victorian times so it is little wonder that the Derek Phillips archives of photographs, papers and other memorabilia are so extensive.
“Rye’s Own” January 2004
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