On the walls of Lamb House, Rye, were a couple of paintings of interest.

The first was of the house itself, showing how it looke dbefore the Music Room was destroyed in World War 2:-

The second was a street view from one of the windows painted by Beatrix Potter:-

I took this photo of the same view. Note the twisted chimney on the building which partly obscures St Mary’s Church:-

This is from street level:-

Closer view:-

Reverse view:-

I have posted about Lamb House, Rye, previously.

The staircase faces you as you enter:-

The study is to the right hand side:-

The books in the glazed bookcase above this fireplace must have got hot when the fire was on!:-

To the left of the staircase lies the drawing room:-

The dining room is at the back of the house from where doors lead out to the garden:-

One of the reasons for visting Rye was to see Lamb House, home to various writers over the years and visited by many more. We looked in the morning we were due to leave Rye.

I suppose the house’s most famous inhabitant is Henry James but the good lady is an advocate of E F Benson who was mayor of Rye for a while and set his series of novels about the goings on of Mapp and Lucia, in a fictionalised version of Rye. The books were admirably brought to the small screen in 1985 by London Weekend Television. The BBC version in 2014 was less successful in capturing the look and tone.

This is the gate to the garden. (The gate wasn’t open but we accessed the garden through the house):-

The black plaque reads, “In Lamb House lived E F Benson from from 1919 – 1940 and A C Benson from 1922 -1925. Brothers and writers.”

Lamb House gable end from the garden:-

Another notable former inhabitant of Rye – though not a writer – was the war artist Paul Nash. He liver in this house, as attested by the blue plaque:-

The commemoration of the dead of New Romney in the two World Wars I subsequently discovered is on brass plaques within St Nicholas’s Church (see previous post.)

However what may be a recently laid memorial garden, probably for the 100 anniversary of the Great War, lies opposite the church.

This contains a stone slab with an attached metal panel inscribed with the familiar fourth verse of the poem “For the Fallen.”

Another stone is dedicated to the Burma Star Association Romney Marsh Branch and is inscribed with the Kohima Epitaph, ‘When you go home, tell them of us and say, For your tomorrow, we gave our today.’

There is also a “Ghost Soldier” seen here before a bed of poppies and remembrance crosses:-

Another memorial bears a plaque saying, “Candle of Remembrance.” Click to enlarge and see inscription:-

We scooted along ten miles or so from Rye into Kent and New Romney. The ground is very flat between the two towns. It was at one time under water before the sea retreated. It’s a smallish town but pleasant. We had lunch in a café there.

The Church of St Nicholas was the most prominent architectural feature:-

Its doorway is intricately carved:-

Rye’s War Memorial stands in the south-east corner of St Mary’s Churchyard. It was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in the form which was adopted as the Cross of Sacrifice. The cross surmounts a three-stage octagonal plinth, standing on a two-stage octagonal base.

There are in total 142 Great War Names, plus 42 for World War 2 and one each for the Gulf War and Iraq.

Inscribed on the first step of plinth below the names is, “In memory of the officers and men from Rye who gave their lives in the Great War MCMXIV – MCMXIX.” On the next step below, “Their name liveth forevermore,” and below again, “Also to those who fell in the 1939-1945 war.”

The most prominent architectural feature in Rye is St Mary’s Church.

The Church is rather hemmed in though – there’s not much room on the hill where it’s situated. This is a stitch of photos to show the whole church from the east:-

Clock Tower:-

Clock tower from High Street:-

Graveyard and Church:-

Church and War Memorial – note the upturned sword on the memorial turning it into a Cross of Sacrifice:-

Inside the church a memorial quilt was on display. The topography of the church made this difficult to photograph:-

Also a memorial erected by their parents to the choristers of the church who fell in the Great War:-

View from Landgate:-

Timbered House, Bellwatch Street:-

Another timbered house with unusual projecting window:-

This house also had a projecting window:-

Hilly streets:-

Street corner:-

Town Hall with St Mary’s Church Tower behind:-

Old Street by St Mary’s Church:-

Mermaid Inn Arch:-

At the top of the hill is the High Street:-

One shopkeeper could not resist the obvious pun:-

From the top of Ypres Tower (Rye Castle) there is a view across the River Rother – into which the River Tillingham flows just by the Tower – out to the sea. As seen in this photo.

Turning left to look east the building in the foreground below used to be a Women’s Prison:-

The Ypres Castle Inn also lies just below the Tower:-

I mentioned before that Ypres Tower is a museum. As well as containing exhibits relating to the history of Rye – including a relief map showing how the sea used to lap around the town in Roman Times and its gradual retreat thereafter – there is a broadsword from which part of the Cross of Sacrifice in British War Cemeteries was modelled by Sir Reginald Blomfield.

Just down the Menin Road from Birr Cross Roads Cemetery lies what was once the most dangerous place on Earth. The Great War’s Hellfire Corner is now the site of a roundabout on the outskirsts of Ypres.

Like most of the countryside around Ypres it’s relatively peaceful now (apart from traffic) but during the Great War the corner was a cross-roads over which troops going up to the front line of the Menin Road had to pass, running the gauntlet of German artillery zeroed-in on the site.

I found these videos online showing the canvas screens erected to obscure the view of the German observers as well as how the corner looks today:-

The voice-over artist on this one pronounces Hooge (Hooghe) as “Hooj”. I’m sure it’s really “Hoo-gih”:-