Rye Conservation Society Acquires Photos of Rye

The Rye Conservation Society Photo Collection

In December 2018 the Society was able to purchase two postcard albums from Rye Auction Galleries. Containing over 360 cards from a number of different manufacturers they illustrate Rye from the turn of the 20th Century to the 1970s. They cover the streets and buildings of the town, mainly in photographs but with a good selection of reproductions of watercolours and etchings. Many can be dated from their postmark or the publisher’s imprint and some have interesting and sometimes cryptic messages. Who, for instance, was the Mr Hermitage that one writer was so anxious to hear?

The cards will be digitised with the aim of creating a postcard gallery on the Society’s website. We have just started this, take a look at Historic Pictures. This will be an invaluable resource for those wishing to learn how Rye has changed over the years, and for those for whom an old picture of their own house may aid restoration work. The images will be uploaded in small batches; they will be watermarked, but members of the Society wishing to have full copies will be able to request these free of charge, while non-members will pay a small fee.

A small selection is reproduced here:

Interestingly from the this picture it seems that there were maintenance issues for the Landgate even in those days!

Obviously taken before the World War 2 bomb damage. The car park was a market garden.