Mason Road is Flooded Again

No Warning Posted by Environment at this Time

The holding tanks that are supposed to take flood water from Mason Road are obviously full again as the approach road to Tilling Green is under 6″ of water (10am. Wednesday 9 November.)

No flood warnings are in force for the Tillingham or Rother at the present time despite the heavy rainfall so it appears there is no danger of properties being flooded. Continue reading Mason Road is Flooded Again

The Joys of Owning a Bike

 

By Beryl Dale

As a child I lived in the village of Playden, near Rye in East Sussex, close to the boundary with Kent. It is a village where the centre housed the church, village hall and The Peace and Plenty pub. Not far from there was the school which my brother and I attended until we were eleven years old. We lived on the far reaches of the village near The River Rother and close to the lock gates and the Star Inn pub.

I was seven years old when the Second World War ended and until then we had been restricted in our movements. Having to show identity cards wherever we went. Suddenly we could roam free. Dad had a small arable farm on the far side of the river to where we lived. Also a market garden, a grain drying unit and he reared pigs and kept hens. We knew all the local farmers and felt free to play in the fields around us. Continue reading The Joys of Owning a Bike

Summer Holidays at Winchelsea Beach

 

Barry Floyd

Like many families in London after World War I — and with a gradual return to a more normal way of life — my newly-married parents (father had served with the Royal Electrical Engineers in France from 1915 to 1919) began looking from their semi-detached Edwardian home in Palmers Green (North London) at favourable seaside spots where a brief summer holiday might be undertaken. Continue reading Summer Holidays at Winchelsea Beach

A Time Tested Alliance

By Jim Hollands

The age old links that bind three of the head Cinque Ports, Hythe, Romney and Hastings, the two Ancient Towns of Rye & Winchelsea and the corporate members Folkestone, Lydd and Tenterden are rooted in the Cinque Ports Confederation, Romney Marsh, Smuggling, Defence of the Realm and the Royal Military Canal. Continue reading A Time Tested Alliance

Going Home to Rye

 

By Beryl Dale

I went down to Rye with my daughter to discover more about the exceptional circumstances which had led to my parents’ house being flooded in November 1960.

I had been living in London at the time and had just completed the preliminary exams which took place half way through my Physiotherapy training. I was desperate to go home to unwind and relax. On the morning of that day I woke with a start to the strident ringing of the telephone. I had glanced at my watch as I stumbled out of bed 6.30am! My brain froze – who would be ringing at that hour Continue reading Going Home to Rye

Royal Military Canal by Canoe

 The Epic Journey

By Jimper Sutton

I was only sixteen but bent on making my own history. My mate Chris had seen a documentary on the telly the night before of a couple that had travelled down the Amazon in a life raft. Continue reading Royal Military Canal by Canoe

Volunteers Clean Up River Bank

A joint initiative between Rye Bay Countryside Project, ESCC. and the
Rother Environmental Group “REG” resulted in a very successful clean-up of
a stretch of the East Bank of the River Rother on Saturday 10th September. Continue reading Volunteers Clean Up River Bank

The Monkbretton Road Bridge

By Laurie A. Cooksey

As early as 1876, the Highways Board had discussed the suggestion of constructing a bridge across the River Rother just below the the (then) single track swing bridge of the South Eastern Railway, together with a direct road to East Guldeford just over half a mile to the east of Rye, but although several meetings took place, the plans were dropped on the grounds of being too expensive. Continue reading The Monkbretton Road Bridge

Smeaton’s Harbour

When the Rother Changed its Course

By Ken Clarke

Great changes took place in the marshes from 1250 onwards, but as yet the town of old Winchelsea was apparently not threatened. Matthew Paris, the thirteenth century chronicler, described damage done by the sea in 1250 and 1252 to the neighbourhood of the port, but the town as such appears to have escaped harm. Continue reading Smeaton’s Harbour