A short
HISTORY OF THE RYE WINDMILL
The distinctive and famous Rye Mill is a grade-two listed building and has been the inspiration for artists and photographers throughout the centuries. It occupies an historic site in Gibbet’s Marsh where a windmill has stood, in one form or another, since at least the sixteenth century. The Symondons map of Rye created in 1596 shows an illustration of a windmill in the exact spot where today’s mill now stands. Copies can be seen in Rye Town Hall and in the guesthouse.
The first recorded owner of a Rye Mill was Thomas Chatterton who built a ‘post mill’ in 1758. After his death his widow, Mary, passed it on to a Frederick Barry who demolished the ‘post mill’ in 1820 to erect a ‘Smock Mill’, similar to the one we see today. Milling continued until 1912 when the premises became a bakery. Eventually to be owned by the Webbs, a well regarded family of Rye bakers who were to become custodians of the Windmill for over 60 years.
Unfortunately, on a Friday 13th in 1930, the ovens of the bakery overheated and destroyed the wooden structure on the mill, leaving just the two story brick base. The mill was reconstructed in 1932 and it continued as a bakery until 1976. The ovens were put to good use when the mill became a pottery. The original oven doors can be seen in the base of the Windmill.
The Mill first became a B&B guesthouse in 1984. Since then the Mill has gone through many improvements and, today, its present owners aim to carry on making The Rye Windmill a memorable venue and unforgettable experience for all our guests.
Picture taken in 1940’s (The gasworks are no more)
Rye Windmill when the River Tillingham was navigable.
The Strand Quay, Rye by Thorpe 1835. By Kind permission of the Trustees of Rye Castle Museum.
Meet
YOUR HOSTS
Your hosts, Kathryn & Toby, have been working together in hospitality for around 20 years and happily married for nearly 15 years. After meeting at university, we moved to London before spending a year travelling around the world, after which we lost our appetite for city life and started our working journey together running a private ski chalet in Val d’Isere, France. We spent the next 4 winters in Val d’Isere and the summers running a salmon fishing lodge on the river Tay in Scotland.
After getting married we settled to a less nomadic life moving to Oxfordshire, where Toby hails from, running a manor house as chef and estate manager before moving to Henley-on-Thames as chef and butler.
When our 2 lovely girls were born we moved to East Sussex, where Kathryn grew up, and Toby became the general manager of a 28 bedroom hotel near Rye. Six years later we realised our dream, of our own business, working together again when we managed to persuade the bank to lend us the money to buy the beautiful Rye Windmill. That was a few years ago and we are now lucky enough to say we love where we live and what we do.
We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to our Windmill B&B.
