The Evolution of the East side of Rye Bay
(based on notes made by Mr. Cliff Bloomfield)
In September 1987 Mr. Bloomfield recovered timbers and took levels at the workings of the new A. R. C. gravel pit immediately north of the Rye-Camber road between Rye Golf Club and the Coastguard Cottages. He has also drawn a series of four maps ( see over J to show the evolution of the Rye Bay area between c.1450 and 1803.
The excavator had worked to a depth of approx. 4. 5 m exposing the base of the shingle, below which was black silty sand. To enable pumping of the pit, a deeper trench was dug, and needed repeated clearance. From this trench (TQ 953192 J the dragline retrieved a few pieces of timber.
Other pieces of worked timber and a few pieces of unworked wood were found scattered over a broader area of some 100 x 150 m, also at the base of the shingle. The timber, which was waterlogged and infested by barnacles, is presumed to have been part of an early ship, but otherwise could have been structural timber from a building, mill or bridge, and may have been strewn over the site during the 13th century inundation of the area and the loss of Old Winchelsea. One piece is illustrated in this Irregular.
The timbers were lying at -4. 06 m OD and the crest of the shingle ridge was +2. 3 7 m. These levels can be compared to present-day levels at Alsford 's Wharf, Rye, of river-bed level of -1. 5 m at J (J\V tide, and high spring tide level of +4.00 m, a tidal range of over· 5.5 m. It is, however, emphasised that Alsford's Wharf is in a very confined situation, 3.5 km up the estuary, while the A. R. C. pit area probably faced the open sea.
Prior to the excavation the raised outlines of the buried shingle spit with several recurves showed up clearly. and its ex tensions could be traced a further 2. 5 km to the west-north-west. terminating in the North point Beach at TQ 934203. The later stages of the evolution of the spit have been followed on contemporary maps and are shown overleaf. The earliest map is essentially hypothetical, but is based on Mr. Bloomfield's very considerable knowledge of both local shingle movements and present evidence of early shingle ridges. From map evidence, the rate of extension of the spit between 1594 and 1700 is of the order of 10 m per year. Measuring backwards from 1594, and assuming a regular growth of the spit. Mr. Bloomfield suggests a possible date for the arrival of shingle at the discovery site is 1450.
This whole shingle system resul led from reversed littoral drift caused by waves moving the shingle north-west into the shallow Rother estuary. It is not possible to trace the feeder spit of the system further back to the south-east, because it is buried beneath the Camber dunes and, further south-east still, has been removed by northward migration of the shore.
References
John Prowez. c.1572: an untitled map of Rye and the harbour. A crude map clearly showing the Camber Head. PRO MPF 212.
Philip Symondson. 1594: Eye. ESRO RYE 132/6.
Greenvile Collins. 1682: no title. Dedicated to the Hon. Robert Austen, Esq. Published in G. Collins, Great Britain's Coasting Pilot, 1693. ESRO RYE 132/16
Graeme Spence. 1803: ( part of) Chart of Rye Bay and Hythe Bay. Admiralty Records Office D925.
NOTE: The Camber Head shown on Symondson's 1594 map, at Saunders Barn, Camber Road (TQ 944198) is due for extraction by A.R.C. in 1988.
