Throughout the medieval period, the Sussex town of Rye fulfilled a significant role as a seaport, in tandem with its sister town of Winchelsea. Winchelsea experienced its heyday between the 13th and 15th centuries, but when it collapsed, Rye’s fortunes increased rapidly, and with its growing wealth came a growing urban community. In response to the pressures of this population increase, much of the housing stock of the town was rebuilt. However, after a short period of regeneration, the gradual silting of Rye’s harbour led to a period of decline. After the 16th century, the town had little wealth, and therefore many of the houses which had been built during the Tudor boom years were not replaced by newer buildings. Thus the unique character of Rye has survived, and it is now a thriving town, with tourists flocking to walk its historic streets.
Rye Rebuilt places the domestic built heritage of the town within its historical context and draws on 111 historic building surveys and historical analysis carried out in the town by David and Barbara Martin, aided by Jane Clubb (all of Archaeology South-East) as part of their ongoing research into the historic buildings within the eastern part of Sussex. This research is known as the Rape of Hastings Architectural Survey (RoHAS), for which a total of over 1500 surveys have been carried out to date. Between 1967 and 1991, this work was carried out on a voluntary basis, but from 1991 onwards, David and Barbara joined University College London’s Field Archaeology Unit (now Archaeology South-East) and have continued to survey buildings as part of commercially commissioned work, with some research elements integrated where possible.
The production of the Rye Rebuilt volume is one strand of an integrated research project funded by the Romney Marsh Research Trust. The other strand, undertaken by the historian, Gillian Draper, being work on the history of Rye, which has been published as Rye: a History of a Sussex Cinque Port to 1660. The analysis and synthesis of the data for the houses within the broader RoHAS project is funded by English Heritage and this work is ongoing. Similar studies on the two remaining Rape of Hastings towns, Hastings and Battle, have recently been completed.
David and Barbara Martin have also previously published New Winchelsea, Sussex: A Medieval Port Town (2004) and Farm Buildings of the Weald (2006).
The publications launch for the two Rye volumes took place on Friday November 13th, 2009, at the Rye Community Centre, Conduit Hill. The evening’s events included the Romney Marsh Research Trust AGM and talks by the authors of the two books.
