Rye Castle Museum

General information

The Museum is situated on two sites – in the 13th Century Rye Castle and at 3 East Street.

In 1889, the Rye Literary Society first said they would like the Castle/Tower as a Museum when it was empty, but nothing happened until 1923, when the Tower was Scheduled as an Ancient Monument.

Progress in establishing a Museum was made and, in 1928, one was opened in Battery House, Gungarden, which had been bought from the War Department in 1925.

At the Outbreak of WWII – valuable artifacts were put in the fireproof depository and the Museum was closed in 1940.
The Castle and Women’s Tower were used by the Home Guard and Regular Troops as a look-out.

On the 22nd September 1942, German bombs hit Battery House, the Methodist Chapel, and cottages, and blew off the roof of both the Castle and Women’s Tower. Some more artifacts were rescued from the ruins of Battery House, and put in various garages round the town.
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After an exhibition to mark the Queen’s Coronation in 1953 – the idea of the Museum in the Ypres Tower was resurrected, and the Museum Association leased the top two floors. It opened at Easter 1954, with £6 in the kitty, from before the War.
When the Lower Floor ceased to be the Mortuary in 1959, the Museum took over that as well, and a new staircase was put in to access it from the interior.
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The main building had been watertight since being built in 1249 – until the pointing of the walls, under the direction of national experts – but it simply forced rainwater INSIDE the building.
It got worse and worse and buckets had to be emptied even on Christmas Day.

As a result, the artifacts were being harmed and so with grants the former slaughterhouse and bottling plant at 3 East Street was purchased and converted to hold and display the more delicate items in the Collections.

The Museum Association is now in the process of restoring the Women’s Prison Tower, constructed in 1837, as another display space.