East Sussex (1): Bodiam and Rye

A Norman Stronghold and a Former Royal Port

East Sussex

We spent a very pleasant few days with my sister and her partner who have recently moved to Heathfield in East Sussex, an area I have never previously visited.

The half hour drive from their home to Bodiam was through a well populated rural area, with no towns on the route but many villages, some straggling into each other. With occasional views over the Rother Valley and the High Weald, and an air of comfortable affluence, East Sussex looked as good as anywhere can on a dour March day.

The County of East Sussex
In this post we travel 15miles east from Heathfield to Bodiam, just beyond Robertsbridge, then a further 13 miles east to Rye

Bodiam

Bodiam sits beside the River Rother ten miles north of Hastings. The river rises in the (not very) High Weald and reaches Bodiam half way through its 35-mile progress to the sea at Rye. Bodiam has an elevation of only 5m so the second half of its journey – much of it forming the Sussex/Kent border - is a land of marshes and sluice gates.

The River Rother, looking downstream from Bodiam
It is running high after the wettest February on record, but is not using much of the available flood plain at this point

Bodiam Castle

Bodiam is tiny with no obvious centre, but Bodiam Castle is difficult to miss.

Bodiam Castle

Edward Dalyngrigge was born about 1346, the second son of Roger Dalyngrigge who held the manor of Bolebrook in Sussex. As a second son he had to make his own way and the Hundred Years War provided endless opportunities for the energetic and ruthless. In 1367 when he was 21 (nine years younger than the war) Edward travelled to France and joined the Free Company of Sir Robert Knolles – a band of mercenaries who killed and plundered with the tacit consent of the English authorities. By 1377 this honourable calling had given Edward sufficient standing and wealth to return to Sussex and marry Elizabeth Wardedieu, heiress to the manor of Bodiam.

Over the next ten years Dalyngrigge became one of the most influential men in the county. In 1385, with the prospect of a French invasion, he applied for and was granted the right to fortify and crenelate his manor house, but instead of doing that he built a brand new castle on the flat land by the river – then navigable as far as Bodiam and considered a possible invasion route into the country.

A commanding view of the river and surrounding land from the battlements of Bodiam Castle

The next year Dalyngrigge was appointed Captain of Brest and missed most of the building work but had returned from France by 1390 when the castle was finished. It was designed for comfortable living as well as defence, but he had little time to enjoy it as he died in 1393.

The castle has the usual defensive features; a walled rectangle with round towers at the corners and rectangular towers between, a portcullis of iron-clad oak (possibly the oldest in the country) in the gatehouse and machicolations and murder holes in the gatehouse and over the postern tower entrance at the rear. A barbican, of which little remains, stood in the bridge which originally turned at right angles, so unwelcome visitors would have to fight their way into the barbican while being showered with arrows from the castle battlements. And then there is the moat, defensive no doubt, but it is hard to believe Sir Edward gave no thought to how splendid his castle would look in its watery setting.

The entrance bridge used to turn at right angles at the Barbican, Bodiam Castle

Inside there is a Great Hall,…

Great Hall, Bodiam Castle

…a kitchen…

Kitchen, Bodiam Castle

…and a well.

Well, Bodiam Castle, Fed by springs and the moat the well remains full - even if the water looks unattractive

There were comfortable apartments for the Lord and Lady and an astonishing 33 fire-places, indicating that the builder was both immensely rich and valued his comfort. The retainers’ hall next to the kitchen could accommodate 80 servants, while the maximum strength of the garrison was 20.

Dalyngrigge was right to concentrate on comfort as the castle never saw action. When the Dalyngrigges ran out of heirs, Bodiam passed by marriage to the Lewknor family.  Sir Thomas Lewknor supported the Lancastrians in the Wars of the Roses but in 1483 quickly surrendered when a Yorkist force was sent to take the castle. Two years later the Battle of Bosworth finished the Yorkists and he quietly re-occupied his castle. Bodiam played no part in the Civil War but like all castles it was slighted in the aftermath. In the 19th century it was bought by Lord Curzon who carried out major renovations and left the castle to the National Trust when he died in 1925.

The Wines of Bodiam

For brief moments the sun had shone and in sheltered corners we had felt its warmth, but in the numerous unsheltered corners biting wind had been the morning’s main feature. We left the castle in need of a warming drink and found ourselves crossing the moat towards a south facing slope planted with vines. Bodiam Castle Vineyard is managed by Sedlescombe Vineyards, who have been making wines in Sedlescombe, 5 miles to the south, since 1979. Oastbrook Estate also makes wine in Bodiam and nearby New Hall Farm was named the region’s best winegrower by Vineyard Magazine in 2019.

Bodiam Castle Vineyards

East Sussex has traditionally been hop country, but now it seems easier find vineyards than hop fields, though oasthouses remain plentiful; the tops of three can be seen poking up behind the vineyard in the photo above. Whether the growth of winemaking in England’s warmest region is entirely due to fashion, or has enjoyed a boost from our changing climate (even disasters have an up-side) seemed a moot point on a day when local winter weather trumped a warming global climate.

Lunch at The White Dog Inn, Ewhurst Green

Ewhurst Green is a few minutes’ drive in the direction of Northiam (-iam is a local variation on the ubiquitous -ham, meaning homestead).

The White Dog describes itself as a traditional, country Free House. The building is rambling and of various ages, the beer is well kept and the food excellent.

Pub menus now routinely include words like ‘seasonal’ and ‘locally-produced’ but it’s often only lip service. The White Dog has a blackboard telling you exactly how local – bread from the village bakery (they are lucky to have one!) cheese from Twineham Grange and more. Peter and Erica were happy with their soups, Lynne’s pork pie was made in-house as was the pear chutney and my Rye Bay fish & mussel chowder came close to perfection. It is not a complicated dish and should not be difficult to make, requiring only the freshest of ingredients and a cook who appreciates them. It is not as easy a combination to find as it should be, but The White Dog had it.

Peter, Erica & Lynne (I'm represented by a bowl of chowder),The White Dog Inn, Ewhurst Green

A word of praise, too, for Welton’s Six Nations IPA, produced for the rugby tournament. Welton’s in Horsham has brewed artisan beers since 1995, and  pale, fresh and well-hopped (with six different varieties, no less) Six Nations, is ideal for fish chowder.

I should add that my sister produced a top-quality dinner each evening we were there, for which I was duly grateful. If I appear to be lavishing more praise on The White Dog, it is only that anybody can drop in there for lunch or dinner while Erica might be a little non-plussed by strangers arriving demanding food.

Rye

The small town and once important port of Rye is ten miles from Ewhurst Green.

The Cinque Ports

In medieval times the five cinque ports of Kent and East Sussex provided ships for the king and in return were granted certain privileges and tax exemptions. Rye was not on the original list, but when a storm moved the mouth of the Rother it replaced New Romsey which was suddenly no longer a port. The cinque ports had ceased to be important by Tudor times, their harbours – those that were not silted up – were inadequate for Tudor ships. Now, only Dover remans an important port, but much of the pageantry and ceremony survives.

Gibbet Marsh and John Breads

As in most old towns, parking can be difficult but Peter’s local knowledge took us easily to the convenient, if gruesomely name, Gibbet Marsh car park. A windmill has overlooked the marsh since 1596, but the current building, an inaccurate replica of a smock mill, was built in 1933 and is now a B&B.

Gibbet Marsh and Windmill

In the 1740s Rye’s mayor and chief magistrate, James Lamb, convicted John Breads, a local butcher, of using false weights. An unhappy Breads swore revenge in front of his drinking friends.

Learning that, Lamb would be attending a party on board a docked ship, Breads took a knife and hid in the churchyard through which Lamb would return home. The Mayor, though, was feeling unwell and asked his brother-in-law Allen Grebell to attend in his stead, lending him his coat as it was a cold night.

Well after midnight Grebell was staggering home through the churchyard of St Mary the Virgin when Breads attacked him, stabbing him several times. Breads threw his knife into the bushes and made off – perhaps forgetting his name was carved on the handle.

Grebell struggled home, but was dead before morning.

Breads was soon arrested (believing he had killed the Mayor, he had been drunkenly boasting that ‘butchers kill Lambs’) and hauled before the magistrate - James Lamb himself. Even by 18th century standards such lack of impartiality was scandalous but when the accused shouted “I did not mean to kill Grebell – it was you I meant it for and I would murder you now if I could!” Breads was toast.

He was hanged on the 8th of June 1743, at the town gallows on front of the windmill. Lamb proved that he too could bear a grudge as his sentence included Breads’ body being exhibited in a gibbet for 50 years. After 16 years only his skull was left, the rest of him had been stolen piece by piece - ground bones make a sure cure for rheumatism. The gibbet and skull are kept in the Town Hall, but are not exhibited.

Mermaid Street, Rye

I like to avoid journalese; I did not refer to the events above as a 'brutal' murder - why point out the obvious - small towns are not lazily descibe as ‘sleepy' and nothing in this blog is ever ‘iconic’ – unless it actually is an icon (i.e. a devotional painting of Christ or another holy figure, typically executed on wood and used ceremonially in the Byzantine and other Eastern Churches) but when it comes to Rye I can find no word more appropriate (though I shudder gently) than quaint. Indeed, nothing is quainter than Mermaid Street…

Mermaid Street, Rye

…from top to bottom it is a walk through Victorian England, albeit a sanitised version (no paupers, horse dung or sailors with wooden legs). Perhaps Dickensian England is more precise, Dickens spent his childhood in Kent and the distinctive vernacular architecture of England’s south eastern corner would have been familiar to him.

Mermaid Street, Rye

We missed Lamb House, home of Henry James from 1897-1914. I find Dickens and James equally unreadable (so many words!) but that is my problem.

A corner of Rye near the church

We passed the churchyard, not yet knowing about the murder, to Rye Castle Museum.

Rye Castle, Museum

Ypres Tower, Rye Castle Museum

Although a little older than Bodiam, it is hardly a serious castle. In 1377, during the Hundred Years War, a French force arrived and burnt the town. The castle’s hopelessly outnumbered garrison stayed indoors and let them get on with it.

The single tower, known as the Ypres Tower since it was bought by John de Iprys (sic) in 1430, has spent most of its life as the town gaol and is now a museum. A replica gibbet with a skeleton illustrates the John Breads story, but perhaps the most interesting exhibit shows the changing coastline over the last two millennia. The sea once came up to the castle walls, but is now over 3km away and there is now a small marina where once there was an important port.

Looking down the River Rother towards the coast from Rye Castle

In the 19th century an exercise yard was added – now a herb garden – and a small tower for women prisoners.

Excercise yard and women's tower, Rye Castle

St Mary the Virgin, Rye

The church of St Mary the Virgin, with its squat tower and walls supported by flying buttresses, dates from the early 12th century.

St Mary the Virigin, Rye

Its ‘new’ clock was installed in 1561/2…

The New Clock, St Mary the Virgin, Rye

…though the long pendulum which can be seen swinging below the tower was added in 1760.

The pendulum of the new clock swinging below the tower, St Mary the Virgin, Rye

Paul Nash

House of Paul Nash, Rye

From the church we made our way downhill, past the house where Paul Nash lived in the 1920s and 30s. Nash was establishing a career as an artist before the First World War and was appointed an official war artist in 1917 while recovering from injuries received at Ypres. Returning to Belgium he became, like many others, increasingly disillusioned. His work there made his career, but took a long-term toll on his health.

We are Making a New World by Paul Nash
In the collection of the Imperial War Museum, © IWM (Art.IWM ART 1146)

The Landgate, Rye

We finished our amble at the Landgate. Built in 1329 it is the only one of the four town gates to have survived. With a drawbridge, a portcullis and a chamber over the tower it would have been a formidable defence - if Rye had ever been attacked from the land.

Landgate, Rye

So, we returned home with Peter and Erica and later enjoyed a fine dinner and a convivial evening.

East Sussex

Part 1:Bodiam and Rye (2020)
Part 2:Bateman's, Firle Beacon and the Long Man of Wilmington (2021)
Part 3: Battle and Hastings (2021)
Part 4: Rottingdean and The Devil's Dyke
Part 5: Lewes and Charleston (coming soon)