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Rye and Winchelsea 17th April 2004
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| The day started rather cool and windy when we gathered outside the church of St Thomas the Martyr in Winchelsea. |
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The church is a substantial building, despite that fact that all that remains now is the chancel, which explains its unusual square shape.
The question is, how much of the church was actually built?
The signs are that it was a bit more than actually survives, but by no means all, unless the major part of it was destroyed during one of the many French raids on the town in the 14th century.
Some of the effigies in the church are thought to have been brought from the old church, which was destroyed, along with the rest of the original town of Winchelsea, in a storm in 1287.
The vivid stained glass windows are fairly modern.
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| The new town was built on a rocky hill on which stood the tiny village of Iham. The grid-like pattern of wide streets shows the planned nature of the new settlement. The buildings date from all periods from the 13th century Court Hall onwards. |
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| One common feature of many of the buildings are the barrel-vaulted undercrofts which were built to store the wine which was imported through the town.
Our guide, Mike Greenhalgh of the Hastings Area Archaeological Research Group, had arranged for us to visit one of the smaller ones, which is now under the front garden of a modern house. The entrances to many of the others (about 50 survive) can be seen around the town.
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| We also visited the site of the long-vanished Saxon church of St Leonard’s, Iham, on the edge of the hill, just outside the present town. A windmill subsequently stood on the spot until it was blown down in the storm of 1987 |
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| After a visit to the Strand Gate, where Charlotte disturbed one of the residents…
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| we headed on to Rye for lunch in the Bell Inn … |
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| After lunch we headed off on a tour of Rye, losing various members of the party as we went |
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| From the end of Watchbell Street there is an excellent view over the Strand Quay towards the old sea cliffs. All this area was once sea. |
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| From there we visited the Ypres Tower, once one of the town’s most important defensive positions… |
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| …and then via the church
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to the Landgate…
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| and back via the old Augustinian monastery, with its windows bricked up, but the fine tracery preserved…….which concluded our all too brief, if chilly, visit. Many thanks to our guide Mike for giving up his time to treat us to an excellent tour and for his wealth of local knowledge |
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| report and photos by Ron Strutt |
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