The Town of Rye 

A really good description Thankyou! At 16 I cycled to Rye from Folkestone. The striking thing about the journey was a strong wind coming at me across what seemed like endless bleak Marsh lands. Eventually I could see Rye sitting on its hill. A very striking sight from the flat plain below.

Thank you! Brilliant!👍👏

Brilliant video, thanks!

Great informative show Thankyou. I visted here when I lived in Brighton before moving to Southampton area.

Thank you, this is a very interesting and respectful production, sadly some visitors from overseas making videos about British towns like to concentrate on negatives and look for things they find funny rather than points of interest. You are Married to a Britisher so perhaps that has enabled you to understand and appreciate Britain more than a short stay visitor might. I shall now explore your other videos as if they are as good as this one they will be right up my street!

This was super interesting to listen too, love the extensive research you've done. A fabulous job, thank you for sharing!! Enjoying the content.

Excellent! It's a long time since I visited Rye and you've prompted me to return!

As a Rye I have to say its a real wonderful place

Do explore Pevensey, another Sussex (non-corporate associated) Cinque port (now 2 miles from the sea).

Very interesting, thank you. I'm over in the Cotswolds and travel most of the UK but am least familiar with Sussex and Kent. We stayed overnight in Rye at The Standard Inn, and that night the wind romped about the town so it was like being in a ship at sea, the timber frame creaked so much. We loved it, and will return. Like you I have a keen interest in history. Other than Rye, we don't know much of Sussex, so I'm a new subscriber.

The name "Rye" would have derived from "ey" being a suffix meaning "island" as in Hackney (in London) meaning "Haakon's Island", ditto Bermondsey meaning "Bermond's Island, also in London.

You mentioned Spike Milligan, who is buried in the grounds of the church in Winchelsea just up the road from Rye . As well as being a poet, writer, musician, comedian, etc., Mr. Milligan was (and is) perhaps best known to the British as the chief scriptwriter and a star of the iconic BBC radio 'Goon Show' in the 1950's and 60's, which still has a huge following in the UK today through recordings of the shows and was one of the chief inspirations for the world-famous 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' .

Interesting fact about rye is that one set of Bob marleys grandparents come from there (the rasta bloke )And it's my favourite place in the UK .

Great work my favorite town in the south of this country, just wish I could live there.

Glad you mentioned Spike Milligan, all his books are quite easy to find. Did you know that on his gravestone is carved "I Told You I Was ill" in Gaelic. He wanted it in English but the miserable idiots at the church wouldn't let him. A true genius.🙂

Really nice. I do like Rye.

Very enjoyable...my cycling school days were on the southeastern side, down to Arundel Castle and the Isle of Wight. However, my main study year was in Denmark, so I recognized the old Norse ieg, for island, at once. Since r is a trilled letter, I frankly believe the combination to be a misunderstanding...perhaps the person was just clearing his throat( that is how the Danes(Jutes) laughingly describe their language.) In any case, ieg and Rye mean island. Hope I did not just muddy the waters ! Sarah in Greensboro, North Carolina USA

Been to Rye countless times, there is or was a scale model of Rye in the Heritage Centre which had a 30 minute show depicting a potted history of Rye with a light/audio and sound FX show with narration. Tiny lights would come on in various little houses & inns as the stories unfolded. My kids loved it years ago. I seem to remember Gregory Peck walking up Mermaid street in the film Captain Horatio Hornblower. And the creator of Captain Pugwash lived next to Ypres Tower/Gun Garden.

I may have missed the mention, but, there is a quaint story of King George I, thus: An exceptionally severe storm provided an unintentional royal visit in January, 1726, King George I coming ashore at Camber. On hearing the news, James Lamb, the Mayor, rode out of the town with some of his jurats, escorted the King into the town and offered him the hospitality of his home. As Mrs. Lamb had just given birth to a son, the king obligingly stood godfather to the boy, presenting him with a handsome silvered bowl. It has often been said that, as the king could only speak German and Lamb only English, conversation must have proved exceedingly difficult. Perhaps, an answer is to be found in the fact that the King was a fluent speaker of Latin and that Lamb, like Walpole, conversed in that language. On his departure, His Majesty, escorted by the Mayor and Jurats, went through Longer Street (now called High Street) where the town’s trained band stood under arms and lined the street: the bells rang in the church tower and the great guns and small arms roared out their loyal farewell.

Fascinating - thanks for posting!

Many thanks for this enjoayble video; I also have stayed at the lovely Mermaid Inn, many years ago. Another former resident (actually sometime mayor) of Rye was E F Benson, whose 'Mapp and Lucia' stories still give much pleasure: one episode I recall is where Lucia gives a 'bridge party' at which she announces mysteriously that 'I invited Georgie, but he wouldn't come - and he wouldn't tell me why' ... there was a shocked silence, while everyone wondered who would have been left out if Georgie had been able to come! EFB called the town 'Tilling' (presumably from the Tillingham river), but it is quite recognisable as Rye. Earlier, the author Henry James lived for several years in Rye, in 'Lamb House' - where Benson also lived later on. Look forward to your next exploration!

You do present you're vidios with an abundence of historical facts, I've lived in England (midlands area) my whole life but never been to Sussex. It's very interesting listening to you talk about the things you research about in and around Sussex 👍

We have many places which end in eye meaning Island. I live in a place called Langney (Eastbourne) which meant Long island - in the sea, it is now surrounded by marshy land and the sea is now 2 miles away from where I live but the far end Langney Point is near the seafront. NB Cinque pronounced Canque..French for five

Paul McCartney and family did NOT live in Rye. Their place is down a tiny country lane hidden away in the village of Peasmarsh, to the West of Rye! I have driven past the guarded manor house many times over many years!

Thank you, the amount of research you put in is amazing. Do you happen to know why a lot of the roofs in the town have gone 'rusty'? Are their ferrous elements in the local clay?

The West Saxon 'Ieg' would be pronounced Eye or Ay, the G being silent. Many towns in England have this element in it, usually as ey as in Chertsey in Surrey or Bermondsey (Beormund's Island) in London. A related word is Eyot, a small island in a river. It is often spelt 'Ait'.

Thank you for this interesting video. We have visited Rye a few times, but never stayed there. That might well change, as we never seem to do it justice when we visit... so at least an overnight stay might be in order!

Many thank you for a lovely video: really enjoyed it. I've got some technical questions to ask you. What is the best way to contact you, if I may, please?

Milligan didn't live in Rye. He lived across the Brede valley from Winchelsea, the neighbouring Cinque Port and that is where he is buried.

If anyone is contemplating visiting Sussex they had better be quick, all our villages are being swamp by housing developments driven by a national housing shortage. Funny how we never had an housing before legal immigration which is currently running at over half a million a year.

very good video - brit grew up in Kent - often overlooked counties around london have a lot of interesting history - lullingstone roman villa chartwell and the coast makes a great walk - national trust path TICK

Every now and then the RU-vid algorithm throw up something really interesting and unexpected. I live in Melbourne, Australia and we have a little town down the coast called Rye, and after watching this video, I’m now wondering if the Rye here is named after the one in Sussex.

Just FYI, Hythe is pronounced like scythe.