Rye Town Wall (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

C14 stone town wall. The fine Land Gate only substantial survival but parts of the town wall are listed in the context of their incorporation into other buildings.

The 2 lower storeys 1340, the top storey 1380. Gate with 2 round towers on moulded plinths flanking it. Built of stone rubble. The parapet has disappeared. The string course and machiolations with moulded corbels remain on the north front. The latter has a pointed arch with grooves for the portcullis. The south front has an elliptical arch flanked by buttresses, of which that on the west has been removed. In the reveals of the inner arch are pointed doorways giving access to the side towers. Rectangular loop windows with ashlar dressings in the towers. Trefoil-headed lancets over the gate. The floors and roof of the gate and towers have disappeared. The clock was inserted in 1862. (Listed Building Report)

A Royal licence to crenellate was granted in 1369 March 3 (Click on the date for details of this licence.).

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1002305, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number es17
National Heritage List for England Listed Building number(s) 1251769 , and others
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 1395251.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MES2184; MES16372; MES16373.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Rye Castle Museum
  CastlesFortsBattle.co.uk
  Historic England Viewfinder
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
  Sussex Castles
Books
- Salter, Mike, 2013, Medieval Walled Towns (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 124-5
  Purton, P.F., 2010, A History of the Late Medieval Siege: 1200-1500 (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press) p. 137
  Draper, Gillian et al, 2009, Rye: A History of a Sussex Cinque Port to 1660 (Phillimore) esp p. 153-178
  Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p. 36, 71, 126, 141, 142, 203, 205, 222, 261
  Jones, R., 2003, 'Hastings to Herstmonceux: the castles of Sussex' in Rudling, D. (ed) The archaeology of Sussex to AD2000 (Great Dunham: Heritage Marketing and Publications) p. 171-8
  Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 65-7
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 253-4
  Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 2 p. 476
  Freke, D., 1978, 'Medieval urban archaeology in Sussex' in Archaeology in Sussex to AD 1500 (CBA Research Report 29) p. 87-92 online copy
  Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) The plans and topography of medieval towns in England and Wales (CBA Research Report 14) p. 57-71 download/view online
  Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p. 159-63
  Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1937, VCH Sussex Vol. 9 p. 40-2
  Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (London: Methuen and Co) p. 208
  Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol. 3 Part 2 p. 321 online copy
  Holloway, W., 1847, The History and Antiquities of the Ancient Port of Rye p. 585-90
Periodical Articles
- Creighton, Oliver, 2006, ''Castles of Communities': Medieval Town Defences in England; Wales and Gascony' Château Gaillard Vol. 22 p. 75-86
  Mayhew, G.J., 1984, 'Rye and the defence of the narrow seas: a 16th-century town at war' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 122 p. 107–26
  Hadfield, J., 1981, 'An excavation at l-3 Tower Street, Rye, East Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 119 p. 222-5
  Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 138 p. 206
  Ditchfield, P.H., 1924, 'The walls of Rye and Winchelsea' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol. 30 p. 120-131
  Blaauw, William Henry, 1861, ' Royal Licenses to Fortify Towns and Houses in Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol. 13 p. 104-117 online copy
Primary (Medieval documents or transcriptions of such documents - This section is far from complete and the secondary sources should be consulted for full references.)
- Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1367-70) Vol. 14 p. 224 (licence to crenellate, grant of murage and levy) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1913, Calendar of Patent Rolls Edward III (1367-70) Vol. 14 p. 224 (licence to crenellate, grant of murage and levy) online copy
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1327-1330) p. 403; (1330-1334) p. 304; (1334-1338) p. 230; (1343-1345) p. 43; (1348-1350) p. 93; (1377-1381) p. 74-5 (murage grants) online copies via University of Iowa Libraries
  Maxwell Lyte, H.C. (ed), 1891-1916, Calendar of Patent Rolls (1370-1374) p. 203; (1377-1381) p. 434; (1381-1385) p. 588; (1381-1385) p. 525 (other grants toward fortifications) online copies via University of Iowa Libraries
  1876, Fifth report of the royal commission on historical manuscripts (Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts 4) p. 497a (other grants toward fortifications)
  - Also see the Gatehouse murage pages for full details of murage grants, petitions and other such.
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Harris, R.B., September 2009, Rye Historic Character Assessment Report: Sussex Extensive Urban Survey Download copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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