Cordial over Rye clock
FOLLOWING the exchange of letters over the last couple of weeks in the Rye Observer, Anthony Kimber, Chair of Friends of St Mary’s Church, fulfilled his pledge to Richard Comotto of Winchelsea last week to climb the tower and ponder the origins of the Rye clock.
Richard, who had arrived with a fine bottle of Gascon wine to support the venture, took some convincing that the ancient mechanism had actually been removed to clockmakers in Cumbria for refurbishment and not just concealed to prevent seizure by Winchelsea!
After the handing over some historical documents dating from the 1970s, which are inconclusive about the origins of the clock, the two went up to the top of the tower to look back to Winchelsea and consider what might have occurred 450 years ago! It is expected the debate will continue.