By Peter Etherden
The Tale of Smeaton’s Harbour is an everyday story of country gentry and their shenanigans. It is set in the town of Rye between May 1724 and October 1787…and it is a true story. The chronicler of these events is John Meryon, writing in some dismay as he unearthed the story upon his return to Rye in 1841 after a twenty-year tour of duty in Australia. Continue reading Smeaton’s Harbour
They had been catching each other’s eye for a long time, like lovers before they meet. Jonathan had been in holy orders for seven years and Mary for nine years. They were barely thirty years old and ignorant of the world outside their abode. They should not have been in a position to even cast eyes upon one another in the normal course of events. Continue reading Turkey Cock Lane
April lived up to its usual self. A taste of days to come then the following day the weather we experienced was cold and dreary. Haze from the water turned many a night into a wonderland hanging above the marsh and letting the tops of the bushes of thorn and willow grace the sky.
Two days of light rain on the fourteenth and fifteenth was a boon to the young growth emerging. A few mallard duck broods I saw were huge, many totalling over the dozen. With the mild weather they should manage to grow into adults. Continue reading Jimper’s Jottings May 2005
Snow! What a surprise, it came as rather a shock but did not last long in Rye. The Bay has always sheltered the town from cold weather, here in this little corner we seem to escape the worse. Continue reading Editorial
The war broke out as you know in August 1914 but I did not join up before February 1916, as I thought it was my duty to stop at home and help keep things going because my father was incapable of work. Moreover, my mind was quite made up when I heard that two of my brothers had joined the colours. Continue reading To The Trenches Via Rye
Since the inaugaration of the 999 service 60 years ago Rye residents have had the sure knowledge that a 999 fire call would be answered in rapid time by their part-time firemen. Continue reading Call 999 And Ask For Fire
Reg Weeks was born at 2 Bridge Place, Rye, Sussex on the 1st February, 1907. His parents were married in the Registry Office on 30th November, 1901 and their first child, Elsie was born a month later. Alice was relieved that Reg was born healthy, her previous baby had been stillborn and her first child. Elsie, was now five years old. She would soon begin to take in washing again to supplement her husband Charles’ earnings as a bricklayer. Continue reading The Life and Times of Reg Weeks
Rye resident Frederick Lees journeyed to Kuala Lumpur for the launch of his new book Fools Gold at the recent Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival (July 29-August 1) Continue reading Fools Gold
This picture, from an original turn of the century watercolour painting by Frank Thompson, (d.1926) is a beautifully atmospheric record of a bygone landscape. Continue reading The Lost View Of Rye
By Kenneth Clark
Reprinted from a 1967 Issue of Rye’s Own
“In 1859”, wrote H. P. Clarke in his “Guide and History of Rye”, printed in 1861, “the houses were numbered and the names of the street were foolishly altered; as events in history often give names to streets. Continue reading Street Names of Rye
