Uploaded March 2023 | Updated September 2026, 6 days ago
Explore With Us The Beautiful Parish Church Of Rye, East Sussex | Dedicated To St Mary The Virgin
This incredible ancient place of worship was once dubbed ‘The Cathedral of East Sussex’, it has some interesting stories attached to it, and you can even climb the church tower to view the incredible views across Rye.
We plan to do that in this video, and explore a few of those interesting stories too, so please keep watching as its a stunning place to visit.
St Mary’s church is a cruciform building. Its chancel, the crossing, transepts and the nave were built from 1150 to 1180. With money from the Abbey of Fecamp in Normandy, who held Rye as a royal deed of gift until 1247.
Alterations were made in the 15th century as was typical for most churches across the British Isles. The North and South aisles were added during the late 12th century., The North and South chapels between 1220–1250.
This church was the victim of looting during Napoleonic times, During this severe raid by French marauders, the entire town and this parish church were robbed, and its bells stollen, the church was subsequently set on fire. The damage to the church was extensive, and the last repairs resulting from this fire were made in the 19th century. The following year a group of men from Rye and Winchelsea struck back and recovered the loot including the stolen bells. To deter potential invaders from any future attack one of the bells was hung in Watchbell Street.
There has also been a murder here too, In 1742 the churchyard was the site of this crime. A butcher called John Breeds planned to murder the towns mayor instead he accidentally murdered a man called Allen Grebell. John did not escape retribution and was hanged and gibbeted. His skull, which is the only thing that remains of him, was brought to the town hall and remains there to this day. Both the victim and murderer are still said to haunt the churchyard.
We are going to head upwards now, and climb the church tower, where we will share with you those wonderful views across Rye.
It’s a wonderful place to end this video too, until then Yhana and I would like to thank everyone for joining us and your continued support.
If your new to this channel, please don’t forget to hit the subscribe button, comment, hit the thumbs up, notification bell and YouTube will let you know every time we upload a new video.
This was our third and final video from here in Rye, East Sussex, and we hope you all enjoyed our exploration of this fascinating town.
Until next time, stay safe, keep well and bye for now.
#rye #stmary #eastsussex
***
If you enjoy our content why not support our creative process on Patreon, buy us a coffee or use the special thanks button beneath this video.
Yhana and I will mention your support in one of our upcoming videos.
*** 👉 buymeacoffee.com/stephenandyhana
*** 👉 patreon.com/stephenandyhana ***
***
Welcome to Stephen and Yhana History and Adventure Hunters
Stephen and Yhana are a duo of adventure seekers and they record their adventures for YouTube.
THEY - TREASURE HUNT / VISIT HISTORICAL / CULTURAL / FUN LOCATIONS that all the family can enjoy and they write and narrate wonderful stories from history and the world of genealogy.
(Sometimes... even whilst cycling or kayaking.)
They are uncle and niece (Stephen being Yhanas legal guardian and has been since she was three weeks old.) At Home - It is just the two of them and they both share a common interest and that’s exploring and adventure seeking.
Stephen Robert Kuta, is also an author, genealogist, historian, photographer and a keen traveller.
Yhana loves YouTube, Ice cream, theme parks and the Romans.
Our goal is to create content which focuses on history, genealogy and adventure - This includes future published material as well as film creation.
We would love your support,
So please Join our adventure and support our journey by hitting that SUBSCRIBE Button.
*** STAY IN TOUCH !! ***
SUBSCRIBE and follow our journey for more interesting videos.
You can discover lots more about Stephen and Yhana by using the links below -
INSTAGRAM 👉 instagram.com/s.r.kuta
FACEBOOK👉 facebook.com/stephenrobertkuta
GENEALOGY👉 thelivesofmyancestors.com
KUTA FAMILY NAME RESEARCH 👉 houseofkuta.com
DNA RESEARCH 👉 dnaofmyancestors.com
WIKIPEDIA 👉 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Robert_Kuta
Music featured in our videos is licensed by Epidemic Sound
epidemicsound.com/referral/avumwt
Explore With Us The Beautiful Parish Church Of Rye, East Sussex | Dedicated To St Mary The Virgin
This incredible ancient place of worship was once dubbed ‘The Cathedral of East Sussex’, it has some interesting stories attached to it, and you can even climb the church tower to view the incredible views across Rye.
We plan to do that in this video, and explore a few of those interesting stories too, so please keep watching as its a stunning place to visit.
St Mary’s church is a cruciform building. Its chancel, the crossing, transepts and the nave were built from 1150 to 1180. With money from the Abbey of Fecamp in Normandy, who held Rye as a royal deed of gift until 1247.
Alterations were made in the 15th century as was typical for most churches across the British Isles. The North and South aisles were added during the late 12th century., The North and South chapels between 1220–1250.
This church was the victim of looting during Napoleonic times, During this severe raid by French marauders, the entire town and this parish church were robbed, and its bells stollen, the church was subsequently set on fire. The damage to the church was extensive, and the last repairs resulting from this fire were made in the 19th century. The following year a group of men from Rye and Winchelsea struck back and recovered the loot including the stolen bells. To deter potential invaders from any future attack one of the bells was hung in Watchbell Street.
There has also been a murder here too, In 1742 the churchyard was the site of this crime. A butcher called John Breeds planned to murder the towns mayor instead he accidentally murdered a man called Allen Grebell. John did not escape retribution and was hanged and gibbeted. His skull, which is the only thing that remains of him, was brought to the town hall and remains there to this day. Both the victim and murderer are still said to haunt the churchyard.
We are going to head upwards now, and climb the church tower, where we will share with you those wonderful views across Rye.
It’s a wonderful place to end this video too, until then Yhana and I would like to thank everyone for joining us and your continued support.
If your new to this channel, please don’t forget to hit the subscribe button, comment, hit the thumbs up, notification bell and YouTube will let you know every time we upload a new video.
This was our third and final video from here in Rye, East Sussex, and we hope you all enjoyed our exploration of this fascinating town.
Until next time, stay safe, keep well and bye for now.
#rye #stmary #eastsussex
***
If you enjoy our content why not support our creative process on Patreon, buy us a coffee or use the special thanks button beneath this video.
Yhana and I will mention your support in one of our upcoming videos.
*** 👉 buymeacoffee.com/stephenandyhana
*** 👉 patreon.com/stephenandyhana ***
***
Welcome to Stephen and Yhana History and Adventure Hunters
Stephen and Yhana are a duo of adventure seekers and they record their adventures for YouTube.
THEY - TREASURE HUNT / VISIT HISTORICAL / CULTURAL / FUN LOCATIONS that all the family can enjoy and they write and narrate wonderful stories from history and the world of genealogy.
(Sometimes... even whilst cycling or kayaking.)
They are uncle and niece (Stephen being Yhanas legal guardian and has been since she was three weeks old.) At Home - It is just the two of them and they both share a common interest and that’s exploring and adventure seeking.
Stephen Robert Kuta, is also an author, genealogist, historian, photographer and a keen traveller.
Yhana loves YouTube, Ice cream, theme parks and the Romans.
Our goal is to create content which focuses on history, genealogy and adventure - This includes future published material as well as film creation.
We would love your support,
So please Join our adventure and support our journey by hitting that SUBSCRIBE Button.
*** STAY IN TOUCH !! ***
SUBSCRIBE and follow our journey for more interesting videos.
You can discover lots more about Stephen and Yhana by using the links below -
INSTAGRAM 👉 instagram.com/s.r.kuta
FACEBOOK👉 facebook.com/stephenrobertkuta
GENEALOGY👉 thelivesofmyancestors.com
KUTA FAMILY NAME RESEARCH 👉 houseofkuta.com
DNA RESEARCH 👉 dnaofmyancestors.com
WIKIPEDIA 👉 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Robert_Kuta
Music featured in our videos is licensed by Epidemic Sound
epidemicsound.com/referral/avumwt
