Sunk in the Strand

The well known local fishing boat “Llamedos” was recently reported ‘sunk’ in The Strand.The owner of the vessel contacted the RNLI Operations Manager at Rye Harbour requesting assistance with the recovery of his boat, which had sunk due to the wind pinning the boat under the ledge of the Strand wall and with a high tide and excessive flood water coming from the River Tillingham, following a heavy rain fall. Continue reading Sunk in the Strand

Rye’s Water Festival

Rye In Bloom

Rye’s Water Festival

An exciting new event at Strand Quay.

Rye’s very first Water Festival took place from 10am-4pm on Saturday 22nd May. A celebration of Rye’s environmental heritage and its watery past and present was organised by Rye in Bloom as part of its entry in the national Britain in Bloom Competition. Continue reading Rye’s Water Festival

Top of the Tide

Highest recorded water level at Rye

On Wednesday 2 February 1983 a tidal surge due to weather conditions
in the North Sea meant that what should have just been a rather high
tide suddenly grew an extra 4 ft, and at 16.5 ft came over the shingle
bank at the Broomhill end of the village, blocking the road and cutting
off the electricity. Rye fireman were down there pumping out until
well into the morning, and a considerable amount of damage was done
– some of it to holiday homes whose owners could not be immediately
traced; more than a dozen houses were effected. This Wednesday tide
was the highest ever recorded for the area, but the SWA’s sea defences
held everywhere and the only serious damage was at Camber.
The golf course presented a most attractive scene – less attractive
when the water finally receded leaving its debris to be cleared from
the greens. On the other side of the river, there was an inch of water
over the floor of the Rye Harbour Sailing Club, and dinghies normally
parked beside the clubhouse well clear of the river were washed to
the Camber side, one ending up on the old tramway track. A fishing
boat was blown on to the harbour wall, and had to be pumped out when
the wind capsized her back into the falling river.
In fact it was fortunate that the tidal surge did not come two days
earlier, on the Monday when the predicted tide was even higher, The
police and members of the public spent the middle of that day pushing
back into the Tillingham channel boats which might otherwise have
been stranded on the quayside when the tide went down. Tidal surges
are not that uncommon, but they only occasionally coincide with particularly
high tides and otherwise pass unnoticed by the layman. The last spectacular
(and tragic) occasion was 50 years ago when vast sections of the Isle
of Grain were over run by the sea.

Descriptions taken from “The Rye Gazette” dated 9 February 1983.

Down Rye Way

The Rebel Farmer – And One of the Most Interesting Men I ever Met

By Jim Hollands

Farmer Jack Merricks of Icklesham. often called the Rebel farmer. is surely one of the best known of local personalities. His clashes with various Government Continue reading Down Rye Way