Rye, Sussex : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Rye. You may be able to find further references to Rye in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Rye municipal borough Bartholomew
RYE a town, a parish, a sub-district, and a district Imperial
Rye (or Eastern) Division parliamentary division Bartholomew

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Rye within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 2, Part 2: Canterbury and Sussex 6
Celia Fiennes Tunbridge Wells and Rye 5
William Camden Kent 3
William Camden Berkshire, Surrey and Sussex 2
John Wesley 1771-3: Windsor Park; Wesley as Art Critic; Glasgow and Perth; Preaches to 30,000 People 2
William Cobbett Aug. 30th to Sept. 1st, 1823: Sussex and Kent 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 1, Part 3: Norfolk and Cambridgeshire 1
Paul Hentzner Arrival and London 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Rye Harbour 0 2
Goldspur 0 2
Icklesham 0 2
Playden 0 2
Winchelsea 15 2
East Guldeford 0 2
Udimore 0 2
Peasmarsh 0 2
Iden 0 2
Camber 0 2
Pett 0 2
Cinque Ports 0 2
Gostrow 0 2
Beckley 0 2
Broomhill 2 2
Oxney 0 2
Wittersham 1 2
Stone 0 2
Fairfield 0 2
Brookland 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Rye. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
RHIE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
RHY William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
RHYE Celia Fiennes Through England on a Side Saddle in the Time of William and Mary (London: Field and Tuer, The Leadenhall Press, 1888).
RIE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
RYE John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Marius Wilson Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (Edinburgh: A Fullarton & Co., 1870-72).
RYE OR EASTERN DIVISION John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.