Rye – St. Mary’s Church, War Memorial & the Ypres Tower

Still in East Sussex, from Rye Harbour we now find ourselves in Rye itself.

The eight upper panels list the names of the Great War dead.

The Second World war casualties are remembered around the base of the memorial,…

…and include nine civilian victims at the end.

Two other casualties, one killed in action in Iraq in 1991, and the other in the Gulf War in 2007, are remembered on this final panel.

While we’re here, that’s Rye Castle in the background,…

…also known as the Ypres Tower,…

…and locally, quite rightly, as the Wipers Tower,…

…although I think its name has more to do with King Henry III than Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig.

Today about two miles from the coast,…

…once upon a time these cannon would have looked directly out across the English Channel.

This entry was posted in Sussex East, U.K. Churches, Memorials & Cemeteries - Back in Blighty. Bookmark the permalink.

7 Responses to Rye – St. Mary’s Church, War Memorial & the Ypres Tower

  1. Margaret Draycott says:

    Quite a considerable number died, given what I think is a fairly small parish. Was this one of the areas bombed, hence the civilian victims?
    Like the scroll panels in the church, someone went to a lot of trouble to write them.

    • Magicfingers says:

      I don’t know whether Rye would have been targetted, but anywhere on the south coast would be fair game for a German pilot needing to dispose of his bombs.

  2. Fiona Hislop Hunt says:

    Wonderful coverage of the Memorials etc. I just wanted to say, well done, you work very hard to cover so many areas with such detail & your pictures & information will be such a great help to Historians & those wishing to trace or see the place their families & friends lost in conflict are commemorated & the battlefields they may have fought.
    You do an amazing job. Thank you

    • Magicfingers says:

      Hello Fiona. You are too kind! I am very pleased to hear that you are enjoying my site, and thanks for taking the trouble to comment, because it’s comments like yours that fuel the fire, and thus I continue on this never-ending task! Lol!

  3. Margaret Draycott says:

    Well said Fiona, I echo your remarks, I have learned so much from these excellent posts, covering so many aspects of history.

  4. Daisy says:

    Looks like a beautiful place Magicfingers and the unusual memorials are fascinating… an interesting place is Rye huh?

    Love your work…

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