Wisteria flourishes across the timber-framed front of the ancient Mermaid Inn in cobbled Mermaid Street at Rye in East Sussex, England, UK. The inn sign, swinging from elaborate wrought ironwork, features a golden-haired mermaid with a golden tail.
Rye, East Sussex, England, UK: in cobbled Mermaid Street, a venerable wisteria tree spreads across the half-timbered facade of the historic Mermaid Inn, for centuries the principal hostelry in this former medieval Cinque Port on England’s south-eastern coast. Above the gnarled trunk hangs the inn sign, featuring a mermaid with long golden hair and a supple gilded tail who floats within a studded black-painted frame swinging from curled and coiled wrought ironwork. The timber-framed inn is one the most ancient building in Rye. Its stone-vaulted cellars date from 1156 and are linked by a secret passage to the Olde Bell Inn nearby. In the 18th century, the Mermaid became the secondary headquarters of the Hawkhurst Gang, a notorious criminal organisation involved in smuggling throughout England between 1735 and 1749. According to local legend, members of the infamous gang would sit in the inn with loaded pistols on the table in front of them. The Mermaid Inn was rebuilt in 1420, after a fire, around an inner courtyard, with the two-storey south front now the oldest part of the structure above ground. The studded first floor facade rests on floor joists and a bressummer beam, while its westernmost bay, built out over the entrance to the stable yard, is supported by three wooden posts and beams. Inside, the inn contains Tudor fireplaces and panelling and offers rooms with four-poster beds. The lounge bar has one of the largest open log fireplaces in England.
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Rye, East Sussex, England, United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
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