Photographs from the collection of E.G. Pollington (nee Jempson)
“A Thirteenth Century traveller from inland, making his way through the gloom of the Sussex forests, might well have paused on the outskirts of Rye to listen to a strange sound, a rhythmic hammering, half-metallic, half wooden in its timbre, which floated out hour after hour on the southerly breeze. Continue reading Boat Builders of Rye Part 3
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. Continue reading On The Waterfront
The story of the Phillips family of boat builders started well before the turn of the 19th. Century. John Phillips was building boats at the Rock Channel well before 1886 because in 1886 he indentured his son Herbert, who left school at the age of twelve, as an apprentice in the business on the first day of that year. The original document, part of which is shown here, states that John Phillips “Shall instruct his apprentice in the art of Shipwrighting and Boatbuilding” and “Finding unto the said apprentice sufficient meat, drink, lodgings and all other necessaries during the said term.” Continue reading Phillips Boatbuilders
