Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for RYE

RYE, a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district, in Sussex. The town stands on the river Rother, near theoutlet of the Military canal, and on the Ashford and Hastings railway, 2½ miles N of the Rother's mouth, 3 W of the boundary with Kent, and 9½ N E by E of Hastings; wassurrounded, in the Roman times, by the sea, but was afterwards gradually deserted by it; was given by the Confessorto Fécampabbey, in France; became, at an early period, one of the Cinque ports; was fortified, in the time of Stephen, by William de Ypres, Earl of Kent; reverted to the Crownin the time of Henry III.; derived great and permanentadvantage from the inundation of 1287, which began tobring the Rother from its old course through the marshesto run this way; sent 9 ships to the siege of Calais in the time of Edward III.; was burnt by the French in 1377and 1447; was visited by Henry VII. in 1487, by Elizabeth in 1573, by Charles II. in 1673, by George I. in 1725, by George II. in 1736; received French refugees, as settlers, after the massacre of St. Bartholomew, and after the revocation of the edict of Nantes; had, as avicar, Bishop Fletcher of Bristol, and as a native, John Fletcher the dramatist; is a borough by prescription, and was first chartered by the Confessor; sent two membersto parliament from the time of Henry III. till 1832, and now sends one; is governed, under the new act, by amayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors; consists municipally of only part of R. parish, but includes parliamentarily the rest of that parish, all East Guild ford, Icklesham, Iden, Peasmarsh, Playden, and Winchelsea, and parts of Udimore and Brede; is a head port, a seat ofpetty sessions and county courts, and a polling-place; publishes two weekly newspapers; has undergone some revival of prosperity, after a long period of decline; occupiesthe slopes and skirts of a steep uneven rock, at the margin of a great expanse of marsh; presents an antiquated appearance, with narrow, winding, grass-grown streets; and has a head post-office, ‡ a railway station with telegraph, two banking offices, three chief inns, a town halland market house, a jail and police station, a custom-house, a remaining gate of its ancient walls, three bridges, a railway swing bridge, a church, four dissenting chapels, remains of ancient Carmelite and Augustinian friaries, an endowed grammar school with £100 a year, a national school, alms-houses, and a workhouse.

The town hall and market-place are a neat brick building. The jail and police station are a renovated tower orfortalice of the defences built by W. de Ypres; and thejail has capacity for 10 male and 4 female prisoners. The church is large and cruciform, partly Norman, partly early English; has a Norman central tower; and contains somebrasses and monuments. A corn and cattle market is heldon every alternate Wednesday; and a fair, on 10 Aug. Agreat trade exists in wool, corn, hops, timber, and oak bark; ship-building is carried on; works for making concreteblocks are at the harbour; and kettle-nets, for catchingmackerel and other fish, are on the shore. The harbourhas been much improved by cutting a new channel to the sea, and blocking out the old one; and it receivesvessels of 200 tons. A wooden pier is on the E side of the mouth, and has two fixed lights, 420 feet apart, 36and 26 feet high; and an embankment is on the W side, leaving an entrance 160 feet wide. The vessels belonging to the port, at the beginning of 1864, were 51 small sailing-vessels, of aggregately 1, 166 tons; 51 large sailing-vessels, of aggregately 5, 128 tons; and 1 steam-vessel, of 21 tons. The vessels which entered in 1863, were11 British sailing-vessels, of aggregately 853 tons, fromforeign countries; 26 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 2, 762 tons, from foreign countries; 1 British steam-vessel, of 497 tons, from foreign countries; and 487 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 37, 183 tons, coastwise. The vessels which cleared, in 1863, were 1 British sailing-vessel, of 30 tons, to foreign countries; 9 foreign sailing-vessels, of aggregately 1, 345 tons, to foreign countries; and 45 sailing-vessels, of aggregately 2, 883 tons, coastwise. The amount of customs, in 1862, was £236. Corporation revenue, about £980. Amount of property and income tax charged in 1863, £3, 170. Electors in 1833, 422; in 1863, 383. Pop. of the m. borough in 1851, 4,071; in 1861, 3, 738. Houses, 787. Pop. of thep. borough in 1851, 8, 541; in 1861, 8, 202. Houses, 1, 684. The parish comprises 2, 313 acres. Real property, £17,017; of which £130 are in gas-works. Pop. in 1851, 4, 592; in 1861, 4, 288. Houses, 858. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Chichester. Value, £410.* Patron, the Duke of Devonshire.—The sub-district contains also the parishes of Iden, Peasmarsh, Playden, East Guild ford, and Broomhill, part of the last electorally in Kent. Acres, 16, 296. Pop., 6, 353. Houses, 1, 300. The district comprehends also the sub-district of Beckley, containing the parishes of Beckley, Northiam, Brede, Udimore, Winchelsea, and Icklesham. Acres of the district, 39, 369. Poor-rates in 1863, £10, 628. Pop.in 1851, 12, 349; in 1861, 11, 927. Houses, 2, 469. Marriages in 1863, 78; births, 385, of which 25 were illegitimate; deaths, 226, of which 74 were at ages under 5years, and 7 at ages above 85. Marriages in the tenyears 1851-60, 940; births, 3, 898; deaths, 2, 413. The places of worship, in 1851, were 11 of the Church of England, with 3, 910 sittings; 2 of Independents, with450 s.; 3 of Baptists, with 575 s.; and 9 of Wesleyans, with 2,064 s. The schools were 16 public day schools, with 1,071 scholars; 42 private day schools, with 578 s.; 20 Sunday schools, with 1,811 s.; and 1 evening schoolfor adults, with 31 s. The inmates of the workhouse, at the census of 1861, were 157.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "cities")
Administrative units: Rye AP/CP       Rye SubD       Rye RegD/PLU       Sussex AncC
Place: Rye

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