Up for auction
The auction of 9 Mermaid Street closes on Thursday 26 March. The derelict property on Rye’s iconic street is a three-bedroom mid-terrace and is in need of complete refurbishment.
You can find more about the auction here.
This video – from auctioneers Clive Emson – shows the poor state of the building inside and out.
Town Council meets
Rye Town Council meets this Monday 23 March at 6.30pm. The agenda includes: the Station Approach public toilets, Rye’s infrastructure priorities, appeals for grants from local charities, and the current state of the council’s budget.
You can read the full agendas for both the council meeting and the planning committee that follows here.
Rye News will have a report from the meeting at the town hall next week.
Consultation closes
Rother District Council’s draft Local Plan is open for consultation for just a few more days. The plan has details of over 8000 potential new homes across the district – with over 700 hundred in Rye and the surrounding villages.
Councillor Doug Oliver, RDC’s leader said, “It is the blueprint for how Rother could develop and change up to 2042. Recently, Government imposed higher housing targets on local councils, with Rother District Council asked to build 912 homes per year. With more than 80 per cent of the district falling within the High Weald National Landscape, the new target is extremely challenging and we are having to explore all options in an attempt to meet it.”
To take part, click here before Monday 23 March Draft Local Plan 2025-2042 – Rother District Council
Spring openings
The Rye Society of Artists Annual Spring Show opens on Saturday 21 March at the Rye Art Gallery. It features over 150 newly-created artworks spanning painting, printmaking, sculpture, photography, and ceramics. The exhibition brings together more than 40 participating members alongside newly invited artists seeking membership, showcasing the breadth of talent across our vibrant Sussex and Kent border community. The exhibition is on until 3 May.
The National Trust’s Lamb House on West Street, the Georgian home of wine merchant and politician James Lamb and later to writers Henry James, EF Benson, H Montgomery Hyde and Rumer Godden reopens, after its winter closure, on Monday 23 March. There is an exhibition of caricatures by Max Beerbohm in the White Parlour and the beautiful garden, one of the largest in the town, will be bursting into life with its display of spring flowers and shrubs.
Rye Castle Museum gate restored
The main gates to the East Street site of the Rye Castle Museum that were badly damaged by a car in an accident last September have now been fully restored and installed once again. The accident pushed the left hand gate into the passage behind, broke the very large hinge and splintered the frame, and as the gates are Grade 2 listed, required a specialist carpentry firm to work on them. The East Street site of the museum is open at weekends in the spring and summer and reopens on 4 April.
Image Credits: James Stewart , Ordnance Survey Mapping , Juliet Duff .