Have been travelling, blog re Peterborough and Rye Visits

Yes, I do apologise for not writing more recently, but I have been otherwise engaged, not least with a wee bit of wandering, virtually set free of the pandemic, although I'm still being very careful, wearing a face mask as appropriate, washing hands regularly, small bottle of sanitiser in my pocket, regular LFTs! Anyway, I did visit Peterborough again, and Peterborough Cathedral, built on the site of a monastery originally built in AD 655, rebuilding of the monastery church, what became the cathedral, commenced in 1118 following a fire in 1116 and previous sackings (more history at the website).

What I did find very interesting was that Henry VIII's first wife, Katherine Of Aragon, was buried here in 1536, and the remains of Mary, Queen of Scots, were buried here in 1587, though Mary's remains were exhumed on the orders of her son James I and transferred to a tomb at Westminster Abbey 25 years later. Katherine Of Aragon's body, though, remains entombed at Peterborough Cathedral, despite soldiers of Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentary Army vandalising the cathedral, and Katherine's tomb, in 1643; the memorial slab now there was installed in 1895. Katherine was an amazing woman of her time, and more information can be found at the Cathedral's website, and 12 'little-known' facts about her at the History Press website, both well worth a read.

Of course, whilst there, a number of hostelries were visited, and my alter ego, Steve the Beermeister, who wrote about my previous visit last year (blog), records details of the pubs visited on Saturday, including the new one above, and the beers enjoyed (blog).

And, as I wrote about my most recent visit to Rye in that recent blog, including visiting the Rye Waterworks micropub, I thought a few lines about the history of the Parish Church of St Mary in Rye would be very appropriate. Another Norman delight, with building of the church starting in the early 12th century, and the church continues to dominate the hill on which the 'old town' of Rye stands. 

Rye was regularly attacked by the French, as we know much of Kent and Sussex was in medieval times, notably Hastings too, but in 1377 Rye was looted and set on fire by French invaders, with extensive damage made to the church, its roof falling in, and the church bells carried off as a prize across the Channel. However, the next year men of Rye and Winchelsea sought revenge, sailing across the Channel themselves, in turn looting and setting fire to 2 towns in Normandy, recovering and returning much of the stolen loot to Rye, including the recovered church bells (Church website).

Enough of my musings, but get out there folks, remembering to stay safe of course!

A Trip to and Walk around Rye...

Entering Rye by one of the gates, after having a wander towards Rye Harbour and around the town. Originally a seaside town, medieval Rye is now nearly 2 miles from the coast following storms and silt being brought in from the Channel, its current position inland was consolidated by the 16th century. Rye, earlier officially a 'limb' of Hastings, became one of the Cinque Ports (website) in 1336; for more details of the history of Rye go to the Historic UK website.

Walking up towards the church I passed the Grade I listed 13th century Ypres Tower, now one of the 2 sites of the Rye Castle Museum (Visit 1066 Country website).

At the top of the hill, and which can be seen from miles around, is the 12th century St Mary's Church (website), which is definitely worth a look around inside. I particular like the Victorian stained glass Burne-Jones window (member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and good friend of the Arts & Crafts Movement's William Morris).

Around the corner from the church, and down a few yards in Mermaid Street TN31 7EY, is the Mermaid Inn (website), originally a 12th century inn (cellar dates from 1156), but rebuilt in 1420 following it being burnt to the ground by French raiders in 1377, indeed Rye, like Hastings, saw many raids in those days! It's a cosy hotel and public house, with low ceilings, beams, and nooks and crannies. Their own beer (brewed for them by Young's I was told, their Bitter rebadged?) was a nice easy to drink 3.7% session ale, and, although I'd had a late breakfast, so didn't eat here, the food did look very good!

Again, just around the corner, and back up round towards the church, and you reach the Grade II listed 18th century Lamb House in West Street TN31 7ES (website). Lamb House is a writers museum and now run by the National Trust, and was once the home of writer Henry James (1897 to 1914).

Around the back of the church is this Grade II listed brick cistern and tower that was built to hold water pumped up from my final destination, down Conduit Hill...

Yes, down the hill, and just a few minutes away from the railway station, in Tower Street, and on the corner with Rope Walk TN31 7NT, is the Rye Waterworks micropub, where I enjoyed beer, good company, and a cracking locally made Scotch Egg. My alter ego and his blog describes this visit in greater depth, cheers! 😉

Great afternoon for us 👍

The Catcher in the Rye

By Steve the Beermeister...

Well, it certainly catches me whenever I visit Rye, The Rye Waterworks micropub, on the corner of Tower Street and Rope Walk TN31 7AT (older blog giving more detail about the history etc, hate to keep repeating myself!). And it caught me yesterday, with the pleasure of David and Eddie working behind the bar, and quite a few other sociable customers, and cider manufacturer!

One of the quaint things about this wonderful wee pub, and I say about it more in the earlier blog, is that virtually everything inside, chairs, tables and paraphernalia, and outside, is for sale! Consequently, it looks different virtually every time you visit...

And there are, of course, the 8 local real ales served straight from the cask by gravity feed, and similar number of local real ciders, not to mention local gins, locally produced pub food, and even the house wines, which are quite delightful, are produced by colleagues (Paso-Primero) of a local brewery (The Three Legs Brewing Company), indeed, one of the original 'three legs' I do believe! I don't really drink white wine, but was given a taster of this 13.5% blended from Chardonnay, Riesling and Gewurztraminer grapes, and it was tasty and very refreshing, but the red is absolutely gorgeous, with Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Tempranillo grapes, what a great pair of house wines, and reasonably priced too!

Real Fire too!

To the ales, I did have a few pints, including 2 from Kent brewer Brumaison (website), never heard of them before, so I had to try both of their ales on offer, didn't I?!? I started with their 4.4% Golden Blonde, made with wheat in addition to pale malted barley, and English hops Challenger and First Gold. I thought it was more pale amber than gold, but what do I know, 'twas very easy to drink with a nice bitter aftertaste, good 'session' ale indeed. 

Then I had a pint of their 4.7% 1770 London Porter, obviously brewed with darker malts (and wheat, though I've since found that out!), and Kent Bullion hops. A very dark ale with a light brown fawn coloured head, looked, smelt and tasted more like a stout to me than a porter, but the difference between stouts and porters often depend on the interpretation of the brewer, and I have written about this before, see an older blog for more detail, and my own interpretation! Actually, Brumaison's version was very good, slightly sweet to my taste, but with a nice dry bitter finish, nice one, cheers!

To flush Gents!

I had to add the image above, it amused me muchly, add jokes as you feel necessary! 😉

Anyway, I also enjoyed a couple of pints of an old favourite session bitter Old Dairy Brewery (website) Uber Brew, a very easy drinking 3.8% pale golden bitter, brewed with Citra, Chinook and Equinox hops, which provide a pleasurable strong fruity flavour and aroma, as one would expect! Still very good, cheers peeps!!

Hastings to Rye Walk - Yesterday

My brother and I left Hastings at a reasonable time early-ish yesterday morning, with the aim of missing as much of the forecast rain as possible, and walked towards Rye with the wind behind us for most of they way! The photograph above was taken looking back over Fairlight Glen, a popular place to paint in the 19th century, particularly by Pre-Raphaelite artist William Holman Hunt (blog).

Once we'd completed crossing Hastings Country Park (blog) and cliffs, we descended to Pett Level, where we had a bite to eat, we carried on along The Royal Military Canal (website), constructed from Hythe to Pett to defend against the perceived threat of Napoleon in the early 19th century. We continued along by the canal to Winchelsea, where we walked up to the road and reached the 13th century New Gate (website).

Winchelsea's "New Gate"

Proud parents & their 4 teenagers

We walked through and then around the North of Winchelsea, returning to the wetlands, where we were followed by rain for the last 2 miles of our walk. Okay, we had damp backs to our legs, but we did miss the worst of the rain, mostly!

So, we arrived in Rye and walked up the interesting old streets to St Mary's Church...

Once up at the top of the hill and in St Mary's Church, I loved the stained glass window of another Pre-Raphaelite artist (1891), and best friend of Arts & Crafts Movement hero of mine William Morris, that is Edward Burne-Jones, an aspect of which was featured on the 2009 Christmas 90p postage stamp (St Mary's website).

We then had a pint each at The Queen's Head and caught the train home soon after as it was hectic in Rye, the walk there took about 4 hours, but we were back in Hastings in not much more than 20 minutes!

1066 Walking Festival, 3 Days Left...

A lovely treat for walkers visiting Hastings, there are just 3 days left of the 1066 Walking Festival, but you get two chances to take part in the free Stade Guided Walk! Indeed, today (Friday 25th May) and tomorrow (Saturday 26th), this excellent guided walk organised by Old Hastings Preservation Society (OHPS) will be meeting up outside Hastings Fishermen's Museum, 21 Rock-a-Nore Road TN34 3DW at 11.00am; if it's raining, inside! You will be taken on this 60-90 minutes long tour of the Stade Fishing Quarter by an experienced volunteer guide from the Fishermen's Museum. Strong walking shoes are advised and, well the weather today, in particular, may be a bit unpredictable, though tomorrow looks fine, but be prepared (Met Office)! The walk is free to partake in, but donations to Hastings Fishermen's Museum would be much appreciated (the museum is a registered charity - website). 

There are other walks to take part in over these 3 days, though not all free, including Historic Experiences in Hastings, Pilgrimage to Hastings Castle, 10.66 Walk from St Leonards to Bexhill and back on Sunday, and many other walks in Rye, Battle, Winchelsea and Robertsbridge (website).

Yesterday: Walk to Rye, Ale, and then Back...

Yesterday, my brother and I walked from Hastings to Rye and back, this photograph was taken early-ish in the day (we left at 07.40), some mist about still, and this photograph was taken from east of Fairlight Cove. It was a gorgeous day, as we'll all remember for different reasons, no doubt, and the mist and clouds soon dissolved...

We'd walked across Hastings Country Park Local Nature Reserve (website) and down to Pett Level, then we walked along the Royal Military Canal (website) to Rye. We reached Rye for lunchtime, having heard our first cuckoos of the year, also a bittern and many other waterfowl were heard and seen, numerous butterflies were seen too, plus blossom and a swans nest (the cob appeared very wary of us!)

Not far from Rye is the Tudor Camber Castle (website), so we deviated slightly to walk by and take a few photographs. The castle was built by Henry VIII, though not literally! Once in Rye, we had a wee tour round and walked up to the wonderful Norman church of St Mary the Virgin (website), which has a grade II listed brick cistern in its grounds.

St Mary's Church, Rye

OK, we also wanted to visit the first micropub to open in East Sussex (I think!). So, what is a micropub? It appears to be accepted that a micropub essentially serves ales from casks, ciders, no lagers, usually wine, maybe a few spirits, and traditional bar snacks, but with no television, electronic games or fruit machines, and they're often situated in ex-shops! So, down the hill to my first micropub too...

The Rye Waterworks micropub

We walked down to The Rye Waterworks, Tower Street (corner with Rope Walk), Rye, East Sussex TN31 7AT (01797 224110), which was originally a water pumping house (1869), and has since been a soup kitchen, public lavatories, and a shop selling antiques and curios more recently (still is, sort of, but more later). However, with a history going back at least 300 years! See further down for the 'potted history' I have written, following talking to David (the licensee), and from researching a 19th century book by William Holloway and a recent online engineering journal.

David when he first held the keys!

The above photograph is borrowed from the Rye Waterworks facebook page, many thanks, and there are some great photographs showing the progression of the considerable work done on the fabric of the micropub since, so well worth a look! David is the licensee, and a warmer and more friendly publican you could never expect to meet, indeed his enthusiasm for this project, a micropub he opened just over a couple of weeks ago, seems unlimited. David told me that the interior still has a small amount of work to finish it off, "93% complete" he estimates, but it is already comfortable. Indeed, on this blue sky day, it was lovely and cool inside, but in the evening he lit the wood burner to ensure his customers remained comfortable.

Regarding the 'curios' I mentioned earlier? Well, David is still selling furniture and curios on behalf of the last incumbent at this address, indeed, most of what isn't nailed down you can buy, including all the tables and chairs, stools and other furniture, framed prints and curios! For example, just out of shot of my photograph to the right, there is a crackin' brass pub bell and a rather fancy ice bucket for sale... so, the Waterworks isn't just a unique micropub for being in an old pump house rather than an old shop, it will also look different every time you visit, as the furniture and decorations change each time some are purchased! Of course, all this is evidence of the great character of the place, but I also have to talk about the ales...

There are 8 ales available (all from microbreweries within 20 miles of Rye), and served by gravity from this rather large fridge behind the bar. The 8 include 2 'regular' ales, one brewed by Old Dairy Brewery, a 4% session ale called Carrot Top (£3.60 a pint), much beloved by Sussex Best drinkers it appears, and the one we drank, from Three Legs Brewing Company, their excellent 3.7% session pale golden and hoppy session bitter Pale (£3.70 a pint). My notes: "Golden with a strong fruity aroma, a gorgeous fruity bitter." Can't say better than that! We also drank the 'guest' Black Pale (4.3% and £3.70 a pint) from Three Legs, a deep very dark red colour, roasted barley in the aroma and taste, quite bitter and "sharp on the palate" said my brother, couldn't disagree, very nice too, but I did prefer the golden Pale, as is my taste!

There were 5 other guest ales, FILO Cardinal (a 4.6% Porter, £3.80), Rother Valley Copper Ale (4.1% and £3.70), Hop Fuzz English (3.8% and £3.70), Range Ales Double Tap (4.1% and £3.70), and I also had a half of the 4.4% Romney Marsh Brewery Amber Ale (£3.70 a pint), a sweetish complex fruity and nutty bitter which is sweet to taste, but dries out at the finish... There were also 3 ciders, Norman Hunt & Sons Conquest (4.8% and £3.70 a pint) and Big Kev's Summer of Fruit (6% and £3.8) and Dickens (8% and £4). Also, gins, wines and soft drinks are available!

Recently, David received his Food Hygiene Certificate, so expect to see rolls with various fillings on sale, sausage rolls, pork pies and scotch eggs, and the usual crisps and nuts, not to mention homemade spicy pickled eggs. 

Oh yes, so you don't attempt to visit when it is closed the opening times at present are: 

Mon-Thursdays 2-10pm

Fridays 2-11pm

Saturdays 12-11pm

Sundays 12-10pm

Brick Cistern by St Mary's Church

"Potted History" (as promised!):

A 'water-house' was known to have been built on this site by 1628, but the present building includes what appears to be a foundation stone from when it was rebuilt in 1718, with a pump driven by a 'horse gin' piping water from the Ashdown Sands Springs; a horse gin was a wheel which had a horse harnessed to it, the horse walked around in circles and powered the pump.

A lead water pump was added in 1826 to pump water up Conduit Hill to the oval brick cistern (now grade II listed) that is by St Mary's Church. Then, in 1869, the Victorians rebuilt the water-house again and installed a steam engine and pump. As I said earlier, it has since been a soup kitchen (1907), public lavatories, and a shop selling antiques and curios, now it is a micropub, cheers! 

My sources: 

Roder, David  Licensee, The Rye Waterworks.

Holloway, William  The history and antiquities of the ancient town and port of Rye, in the county of Sussex. With incidental notices of the Cinque Ports, published by J R Smith (London) 1847.

Rye Ancient Water Supply on www.engineering-timelines.com 2018.

Update on Debbie's Collection Boxes 2

Paul's work in seeking donations to Macmillan Nurses now includes the box that had been left in the Olde Bell Inn at The Mint in Rye, brought to Hastings. A little over £57 was counted, with some 'coppers' added to another collection box now situated on the bar of the First In Last Out (FILO), High Street, Hastings. This means that, so far, about £360 has now been sent, or about to be sent, to Macmillan Nurses.          

The Olde Bell Inn, The Mint, Rye.

There are still 2 collection boxes, the one at the FILO, and one in the Jenny Lind, also in the High Street in the old town, Hastings. Once we get closer to the London Marathon, I'll provide details should anyone want to sponsor Paul's taking part in his 11th London Marathon, this time in aid of Macmillan Nurses in memory of Debbie McSweeney R.I.P.

Many thanks for all contributions.  

RX134, Stacey Marie

RX134, Stacey Marie, is the retired fishing boat that sits opposite the Dolphin pub at Rock-a-Nore, Hastings, which is now looked after by the Fishermen's Museum, and a couple of local volunteers, Mark and Steve, when nesting herring gulls aren't preventing work (NB all species of gull are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981).  

RX134 was built at Newhaven in the 1940's for the Grant brothers, one of whom was Alfred "Puff" Grant who named the boat "Linda" after his Grand-daughter; the boat's original registration was NN39 (Newhaven registration). The boat was built as a punt, becoming a decked boat in the 1950s, thanks to a grant from the White Fish Authority, a government scheme set up to rebuild the country's fishing industry following World War II. 

The Grant bothers fished from her out of Eastbourne until the early 1960s, when a tragic accident saw one of the brothers swept overboard, whilst his brother was below deck. The body was later trawled up at Hastings, a sad reminder of how dangerous commercial fishing still remains, RIP. 

Jack Edmunds brought the boat to Hastings in 1961, where she became registered at Rye, and thus became RX134. Jack sold her to Rod Knight in 1976; who re-named her "Andrew Peter" after his two sons.

Robert "Podgy" Ball later bought her in 1985 and gave her the name "Stacie Marie". RX134 worked until 1997, when she was the oldest boat working from Hastings beach (many thanks to the Fishermen's Museum for this photograph). 

In June 1999 she was acquired by Hastings Fishermen's Museum and was placed on display at Rock-a-Nore in front of the fishing huts to the west of the Museum, where she can now be seen in all her splendour, having had her colour changed from blue. 

Information has been provided for a facebook page, and this article, by Hastings Fishermen's Museum at Rock-a-Nore, and retired local fisherman, Jimmy, who can often be seen in the Dolphin, admiring the view and drinking a pint or two, many thanks to all. 

See Hastings Fishermen's Museum at www.facebook.com/fishermensmuseum   

Stacey Marie's facebook page is at www.facebook.com/Rx134  

Debbie McSweeney R.I.P.

Sadly, this year Debbie McSweeney, a senior nurse at the Conquest Hospital, and well known character in Hastings, lost her life to cancer... 

Her good friend, Paul Denny, has placed jars of his own home-made piccalilli and pickled onions, together with charity boxes for Macmillan Nurses (website), in the First In Last Out, Jenny Lind and Anchor in Hastings, and the Olde Bell in Rye. 

If people would like to donate to this worthy charity, in her memory, and, as I shall, raise a glass to her memory when I open the jars on St Stephens Day, for which I have already donated money at the FILO, please join with me. 

Debbie McSweeney  R.I.P.