Rye is a town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex , England, two miles three kilometres from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother , the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederation, it was at the head of an embayment of the English Channel , and almost entirely surrounded by the sea.
At the census, Rye had a population of 4, The name of Rye is believed to come from the West Saxon ieg meaning island. Probably as early as Roman times, Rye was important as a place of shipment and storage of iron from the Wealden iron industry. The town of Rye is recorded in the Domesday Book as possessing households, marking it as a significant settlement at the time.
As one of the two "Antient Townes" Winchelsea being the other , Rye was to become a limb of the Cinque Ports Confederation by , and subsequently a full member. The protection of the town as one of the Cinque Ports was very important, due to the commerce that trading brought. One of the oldest buildings in Rye is Ypres Tower , which was built in as "Baddings Tower", to defend the town from the French, and was later named after its owner, John de Ypres.
It is now part of the Rye Museum. Rye received its charter from King Edward I in , and acquired privileges and tax exemptions in return for ship-service for the crown. The "Landgate" the only surviving one of four original fortified entrances to Rye dates from in the early years of the reign of King Edward III. It is suitable only for light vehicles. In , some 25 tonnes of pigeon excrement that had built up had to be removed from Landgate Arch for fear of damaging the ancient structure.
The River Rother originally took an easterly course to flow into the sea near what is now New Romney.
