Rye Harbour is a village located on the

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

coast in southeast England, near the

estuary An estuary is a partially enclosed coastal body of brackish water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea. Estuaries form a transition zone between river environments and maritime enviro ...

of the River Rother: it is part of the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

of Icklesham and the

Rother district Rother is a local government district in East Sussex, England. Its council is based in Bexhill-on-Sea. The district is named after the River Rother which flows within its boundaries. The neighbouring districts are Wealden, Tunbridge Wells, Ash ...

. Rye Harbour is located some two miles (3.2 km) downstream of the town of

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

. The River Rother from Rye seawards, and including the village of Rye Harbour, is under the control of the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

. At the village itself there are yacht moorings; a small fishing fleet (coded RX: Rye SusseX); some commercial shipping; and a long-established lifeboat station. There is also a holiday village called Rye Harbour Holiday Park alongside the village itself. An industrial estate straddles the road to Rye Harbour from Rye. It contains warehousing, light manufacturing and an

oil refinery An oil refinery or petroleum refinery is an industrial processes, industrial process Factory, plant where petroleum (crude oil) is transformed and refining, refined into products such as gasoline (petrol), diesel fuel, Bitumen, asphalt base, ...

. The village community has set up a pictorial website, aimed at promoting its history.

History

Rye Harbour village dates from the early nineteenth century, having been built on an extension of the shingle beaches, progressively deposited by the sea over the last 800 years. These deposits limit access to the original open

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

port of Rye, now two miles (3 km) inland. The village has one of the chain of

Martello Towers Martello towers are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up to high (with two floors) and typica ...

constructed during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

; it was built on the beachline of the time. The beachline has now advanced a further kilometre southward. Its geography has thus been shaped by its position at the frontier with the sea and at the frontier of the United Kingdom. The initial establishment was that of a company of

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

in 1805, followed shortly after by the first fishermen's huts and the building of the Martello Tower (1809–10). As the Napoleonic wars ended so the

smuggling Smuggling is the illegal transportation of objects, substances, information or people, such as out of a house or buildings, into a prison, or across an international border, in violation of applicable laws or other regulations. More broadly, soc ...

trade which had long flourished all along the south coast again increased in scope and intensity, leading to the establishment of the ''Coast Blockade''. A watch house was built about 1825 to provide shelter and support for the blockade detachments and still stands, complete with the flagstaff for signalling to shipping. The harbour is also known for the tragedy of the '' Mary Stanford'' lifeboat. At 6:45 am on the morning of 15 November 1928, the ''Mary Stanford'' from the Rye Harbour

RNLI The Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the largest of the lifeboat services operating around the coasts of the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man, as well as on some inland waterways. Founded in 1824 ...

station responded needlessly to a Latvian steamer in distress. The crew of the ''Mary Stanford'' did not know that the vessel had already been rescued by another lifeboat and, in heavy rain and seas, all of the seventeen-man crew of the ''Mary Stanford'' were drowned. The reason for this is still contested. The bodies of all but the Coxswain's son, John Head, were found and buried. A memorial service in honour of the ''Mary Stanford'' and its crew takes place every year in the village.

Nature reserve

Rye Harbour Nature Reserve was established in 1970 and now receive
360,000 visitors a year
Managed by

Sussex Wildlife Trust The Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) is a conservation charity which aims to protect natural life in Sussex. It was founded in 1961 and is one of 46 The Wildlife Trusts partnership, wildlife trusts across the UK and the Isle of Man and Alderney. As ...

, it has national and international designations and is home to more than 300 rare or endangered species. The private road and birdwatching hides are ideal for wheelchair users. In late May 2021, th
Discovery Centre
opened on Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. This is a new, wheelchair accessible visitor centre with educational facilities, information about the wildlife on the reserve, a café and shop, and is a joint project betwee
Sussex Wildlife Trust
and the Friends of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve.

Cultural references

Rye Harbour is perhaps best known for its fictionalisation as "Westling" in the

Romney Marsh Romney Marsh is a sparsely populated wetland area in the counties of Kent and East Sussex in the south-east of England. It covers about . The Marsh has been in use for centuries, though its inhabitants commonly suffered from malaria until the ...

children's books of Monica Edwards.

Gallery

File:Rye Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 451644.jpg, Rye Harbour View looking up the Rother from the slipway by the lifeboat house. File:Rye Harbour (15767469872).jpg, William the Conqueror Public House at Rye Harbour. File:Rye Harbour (15964926994).jpg, Rye Harbour nature reserve File:Inkerman Arms, Rye Harbour - geograph.org.uk - 1423128.jpg, Inkerman Arms, Rye Harbour File:Rye Harbour Entrance - geograph.org.uk - 661375.jpg, Rye Harbour Entrance File:Rye Harbour (21825258682).jpg, Fishing boat with the RX designation signifying Rye Harbour.

References

External links

*
Rye Harbour Newsletter
{{Authority control Villages in East Sussex Ports and harbours of East Sussex Icklesham