This post is about a few corners in Rye, bits and pieces discovered while walking round.
The prison
The Ypres Tower is a listed building and now the museum in Rye. I regret to say we were just too hot to deal with a museum. The museum has a second site in East Street in the town, but it is not open every day.
The women’s prison was ghastly. A recording describes the daily routine, including rising at 6.00am and the work regime for the women. And it was used until the 1890s.
Austin Friars Chapel
The remains of the Austin Friars Chapel on Conduit Street dates from the 14th century and is now a pottery. It was the chapel attached to a monastery which disappeared in the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century.
Water supply in Rye1
There were springs in the area of the military road at Rye and water was taken from them in ‘budges’ (barrel?) to Rye. Then a cistern was built in an area called ‘budge wells’ – where might this have been? From there, in the late 16th century, water was led to a reservoir near the Postern Gate at the bottom of Conduit Street.
In the 18th century pipes were laid to take the water up Conduit Street to the round cistern whih was built behind the church. The water was initially supplied through lead pipes, which were replaced with elm pipes in the 18th century.
When the cistern was too full water was routed to the Wish Ward Cistern (below), close to the Strand Gate.
Community Peace Garden
Next to the Hope Anchor Hotel, on Watchbell Street, is this delightful Community Peace Garden.
You could go on explring corners in Rye for a very long time, and every time you walk in the town, at different times of the day, or year, something looks different or a new idea occurs to you.
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