The setting of this church is bleak indeed - windswept and surrounded by abandoned industrial buildings. It is situated at the mouth the river. It was built in 1849, the architect being Mr Teulon of Lansdowne Place, London. The builder was Mr J Judge of Rye. The architectural style is simple Gothic and the church is built of local blue stone with Caen stone dressings. The small tower, or capanile, comprises a bell tower and internally an organ gallery and porch.
There is a memorial in the graveyard to the Lifeboat men from Rye Harbour who lost their lives in the great storm on 15th November 1928. The plaque reads:
"To the memory of the seventeen brave men, the crew of the Mary Stanford Lifeboat, who perished in a heavy gale while gallantly responding to a call for help from the S. S. Alice of Riga on the morning of the 15th November 1928".
There is also a memorial in the nearby St Thomas Church in Winchelsea.
The final picture is of the west end and turret with the low evening sunshine reflecting on the window. The church building was sponsored and pushed through to completion by the Rev. H. B. Whittaker Churton, who was Vicar of Icklesham, the parish in which Rye Harbour is situated.
Sadly the church was locked, a disappointment as the building has a fabulous wooden roof built to withstand the most severe weather in this exposed location.
There is an old view of the interior of this church in my Postcard Album.
Digital photographs
Visitors to this album since June 2003
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