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Rye Harbour SSSI

East Sussex geography stubsIckleshamLocal Nature Reserves in East SussexSites of Special Scientific Interest in East SussexSites of Special Scientific Interest notified in 1953
Use British English from January 2018
Ternery Pool from the Parkes Hide geograph.org.uk 42402
Ternery Pool from the Parkes Hide geograph.org.uk 42402

Rye Harbour Site of Special Scientific Interest is a nature reserve located on the western side of the mouth of the River Rother at Rye Harbour, about 1 mile downstream from Rye East Sussex. It forms part of a wide network of SSSI's on the Kent-Sussex border that include the Romney & Walland Marsh, the Dungeness Peninsular, the lower Rother Valley and the Pett Levels.It is a complicated site of both biological and geological interest. Varied habitats of shingle, saltmarsh and intertidal muds host a wide variety of flora and fauna. It forms the second largest area of shingle habitat in southern England, only surpassed in area by Dungeness. A much larger area is designated as the Rye Harbour Local Nature Reserve.The Natural England citation for the site covers an area of 761 hectares, but the details page and map cover a small area of 5.6 hectares north of the nature reserve. The area covered by the map may have been transferred to the Dungeness, Romney Marsh and Rye Bay SSSI, but the citations are for the old SSSIs.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Rye Harbour SSSI (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Rye Harbour SSSI
Tram Road, Rother

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 50.929 ° E 0.755 °
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Address

Guy Crittall Hide

Tram Road
TN31 7TZ Rother
England, United Kingdom
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Ternery Pool from the Parkes Hide geograph.org.uk 42402
Ternery Pool from the Parkes Hide geograph.org.uk 42402
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Nearby Places

River Rother, East Sussex
River Rother, East Sussex

The River Rother flows for 35 miles (56 km) through the English counties of East Sussex and Kent. Its source is near Rotherfield in East Sussex, and its mouth is on Rye Bay, part of the English Channel. Prior to 1287, its mouth was further to the east at New Romney, but it changed its course after a great storm blocked its exit to the sea. It was known as the Limen until the sixteenth century. For the final 14 miles (23 km), the river bed is below the high tide level, and Scots Float sluice is used to control levels. It prevents salt water entering the river system at high tides, and retains water in the river during the summer months to ensure the health of the surrounding marsh habitat. Below the sluice, the river is tidal for 3.7 miles (6.0 km). The river has been used for navigation since Roman times, and is still navigable by small boats as far as Bodiam Castle. It flowed in a loop around the northern edge of the Isle of Oxney until 1635, when it was diverted along the southern edge. Scots Float Sluice was built before 1723, when the engineer John Reynolds made repairs to it, and later extended it, to try to keep the channel clear of silting, but it was criticised by John Rennie in 1804, as it was inconvenient to shipping. The river became part of a defensive line to protect England from the threat of invasion by the French in the early 1800s, when its lower section and part of the River Brede formed a link between the two halves of the Royal Military Canal. Scots Float Sluice was again rebuilt in 1844. Some 31 square miles (80 km2) of the valley were inundated by floodwater in 1960, which resulted in the Rother Area Drainage Improvement Scheme being implemented between 1966 and 1980. The river banks were raised, and 20 pumping stations were installed. The river has been managed by a number of bodies, including the Rother Levels Commissioners of Sewers, the Rye Harbour Commissioners, and the Board of Conservators for the River Rother. After the passing of the Land Drainage Act 1930, it was managed by the Rother and Jury's Gut Catchment Board, the Kent River Board, the Kent and Sussex River Authorities, the National Rivers Authority and finally the Environment Agency. It is unusual, in that while it is under the jurisdiction of the Environment Agency, it has been a free river since 1826, and so no licence is required to use it. Management of the levels adjacent to the river is undertaken by the Romney Marshes Area Internal Drainage Board. The Rother passes by or near the villages of Etchingham, Robertsbridge, Bodiam, Northiam, and Wittersham.

Camber Castle
Camber Castle

Camber Castle, also known formerly as Winchelsea Castle, is a 16th-century Device Fort, built near Rye by King Henry VIII to protect the Sussex coast of England against French attack. The first fortification on the site was a small, round artillery tower, constructed by Henry between 1512 and 1514, overlooking the Camber anchorage and the entrance to Rye Harbour. In 1539, increasing tensions with France encouraged Henry to rethink his coastal defence plans, and Camber Castle was rebuilt and extended over the next year under the direction of the Moravian engineer, Stefan von Haschenperg. The results were considered unsatisfactory and further work was carried out from 1542 to 1543, at great expense, to rectify the problems. The result was a large, concentric artillery fort, with a central keep, surrounded by four circular bastions and a circular entrance bastion, built from stone and brick. The finished castle was initially equipped with 28 brass and iron artillery guns and a garrison of 28 men, commanded by a captain. It may have seen service in 1545 when a French fleet attacked the coast, but its operational value was short lived. The Camber and the surrounding harbours began to silt up, becoming unusable by shipping, and the coastline receded away from the fort, eventually placing it well inland. Furthermore, the fort had been superseded by newer European military designs even before it had been completed, and peace with France later in the century removed much of the requirement for the fort. The castle still remained operational up until 1637, when it was closed by King Charles I. With the outbreak of civil war in 1642, much of the fortification was dismantled by Parliamentary forces to prevent it being used by the Royalists. The ruins became a popular spot for picnics in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was painted by J. M. W. Turner. Plans to redevelop the castle as a Martello tower or as a clubhouse for a local golf course came to nothing, although the property was used in the Second World War, probably as an early warning site. Archaeological interest in the fort increased after the war and in 1967 it was taken into the guardianship of the state, the property being bought from the private owners in 1977. It is now operated by English Heritage, who reopened it to visitors after an extensive programme of conservation between 1968 and 1994. The fort is an unusual example of an unmodified Device Fort and is protected under UK law as a Grade I listed building.