C14 stone town wall. Very fine Land Gate only substantial survival. Town frequently raided by French in C14. First grant of murage in 1329 and then in 1333, 1336, 1343, 1348. In 1369 murage granted and licence to crenellete. Murage granted again in 1377, but after this levies and fee farm remissions used for fortifications. Despite all this the town was still considered to be in need of fortification and in 1385 a commission was appointed to supervise the fortification of the town and town granted dues paid on fish landed in ports between Hastings and Whitstable and 200 trees were granted. The earlier murage may have been spent on Ypres Tower (qv) but the walls seem to date from the late C14 and the several hundred pounds raised from the levy on fish. In the mid C14 much fuss was made of the threat from the French but what the money raised from murage was spent on is unclear.

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Name	Rye Town Wall
Alternative Names	Ria; Rya; Landgate; Land Gate
Historic County	Sussex
Civil Parish	Rye
Type	Urban Defence
Confidence	Certain
Remains	Major
Listed	Grade 1
Scheduled Ancient Monument	Yes
Ordnance Survey Reference	TQ922206
Eastings	592210
Northing	120610
Images of England Reference	434566
PastScape Reference	1395251
Historic Environment Record

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StreetMaps

Books

• Creighton, O.H. and Higham, R.A., 2005, Medieval Town Walls (Stroud: Tempus) p36, 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) p171-8
• Salter, Mike, 2000, The Castles of Sussex (Malvern) p65-7
• Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p253-4
• Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report) p92-116
• King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol2 p476
• Barley, M.W., 1975, 'Town Defences in England and Wales after 1066' in Barley (ed) Medieval Towns in England and Wales (CBA research reports) pp57-71
• Turner, H.L., 1971, Town Defences in England and Wales (London) p159-63
• Salzman, L.F. (ed), 1937, VCH Sussex Vol9 p40-2
• Harvey, Alfred, 1911, Castles and Walled Towns of England (Methuen and Co) p208
• Turner, T.H. and Parker, J.H., 1859, Some account of Domestic Architecture in England (Oxford) Vol3 pt2 p321
• Holloway, W., 1847, The History and Antiquities of the Ancient Port of Rye p585-90

Journals

• Mayhew, G.J., 1984, ‘Rye and the defence of the narrow seas: a 16th-century town at war' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol122 p107–26
• Hadfield, J., 1981, ‘An excavation at l-3 Tower Street, Rye, East Sussex' Sussex Archaeological Collections Vol119 p222-5
• Kenyon, J.R., 1981 'Early Artillery Fortifications in England and Wales: a Preliminary Survey and Re-appraisal' Archaeological Journal Vol138 p206
• Ditchfield, P.H., 1924, 'The walls of Rye and Winchelsea' Journal of the British Archaeological Association Vol30 p120-131

Primary Sources

• Calendar of Patent Rolls (1367-70) p224 [licence to crenellate, grant of murage and levy]
• CPR (1327-1330) p403; (1330-1334) p304; (1334-1338) p230; (1343-1345) p43; (1348-1350) p93; (1377-1381) p74-5 [murage grants]
• CPR (1370-1374) p203; (1377-1381) p434; (1381-1385) p588; (1381-1385) p525; Hist. Mss. Comm. 5th Rep. p497a [other grants toward fortifications]