Rye Castle Museum

Rye Castle Museum is the town's local history museum. It illustrates why Rye was once one of Britain's leading ports and also why that changed from the 16th Century onwards. The Museum has two sites, themedieval Ypres Tower and the museum, housed in a former bottling factory in East Street.

The Ypres Tower is one of the oldest buildings in Rye. It was built as part of the town's defences, but later saw life as a private house, a prison and even a mortuary, before becoming a museum. There are exhibits here of medieval pottery, ironwork, smuggling and law enforcement items. There is also a model of the changes in the coastline, a room with things for children to do and from the Terrace a view of what was once a great harbour.

The museum on East Street contains Rye's old fire engine from the 18th Century and paintings and engravings of Rye in the past. You can see examples of the famous Sussex Pig and Rye Pottery, as well as other potteries, uniforms from the various Cinque Ports Regiments, ship models andold photographs.

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