Low tide at Strand Quay: yachts with red and white hulls moored in glutinous brown mud on the riverbed of the River Tillingham, a tributary of the River Rother at Rye, East Sussex, England, UK. The town was one of the medieval Cinque Ports, but violent storms in the late-1200s changed the Rother’s course and centuries of silting and land reclamation have left it two miles ( km) from the sea.
Rye, East Sussex, England, UK: in late evening sunlight and at low tide at Strand Quay, yachts with red and white hulls lie in glutinous dark brown mud on the bed of the River Tillingham, connected to Rye’s outlet to the sea, the River Rother. In the medieval era, Rye was an important seaport, one of the leading members of the Confederation of Cinque Ports, an historic group of coastal towns in south-east England named after its original five members, Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover and Sandwich. By the late middle ages, the confederation had expanded to more than 40 places in Kent and Sussex, with one outlier in Essex. Rye was in turn a successful port, naval base and fishing port, but over the centuries, several factors combined to leave it as an inland settlement. Violent storms in the 13th century, particularly in 1250 and 1287, destroyed neighbouring Old Winchelsea, changed the course of the Rother and cut Rye off from its immediate access to the English Channel. Since then, relentless silting and land reclamation projects have further widened the gap and the town is now about two miles from the sea. However, Rye has maintained at least some function as a port, with commercial wharves amidst the yachts in the present Rye Harbour, further down the Rother.
Size: 4256px × 2832px
Location: Rye, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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