We ended our holiday with a night in Rye. I simply love Rye and am always amazed at how many famous writers have lived and worked here. Lamb House alone has been home to many famous authors.
We stayed at the Mermaid Inn in the centre of the town's twisty streets and passageways. The Mermaid was built in 1420, and is packed with sloping ceilings, creaking floorboards and numerous staircases, going in all directions! Like Rye, it has a rich history of visitors including monarchs, authors and poets. We stayed in the Elizabethan Bedchamber, but were disappointed not to encounter any duelling ghosts! Our room also had the secret passage leading from it, and I took a quick look.
The Mermaid provided the inspiration for Malcolm Saville's Gay Dolphin Hotel in his Lone Pine novels. He located the Gay Dolphin on the spot of another hotel in Rye: The Hope Anchor, thereby making the most of both buildings and locations. Saville describes Jon and Penny's arrival at the Gay Dolphin in The Gay Dolphin Adventure:
"Penny soon lost count of the corners they turned, the corridors they walked and the stairs they went up and down before they reached Jon's room. ....The window ....jutted over the pavement, so that it was possible to see up the street, over the edge of the cliff to the mouth of the river and the sea and right out over the grassy levels across the Marsh."
Windows overlooking the street also play an important role in E F Benson's Mapp and Lucia novels. The Garden Room of Mallards (the fictionalised Lamb House) provides Miss Mapp, and later Lucia, the opportunity to watch the comings and goings of their neighbours, without being observed. E F Benson described Tilling (Benson's fictionalised Rye) with "its narrow streets abounded in red-brick houses with tiled roofs, that shouted Queen Anne and George I".
Lamb House was home to Henry James, E F Benson and Rumer Godden. Conrad Aiken lived not far away at Jeake's House, and his daughter Joan Aiken was born here. Radclyffe Hall lived in Rye for many years, and wrote The Sixth Beatitude during her years in the town, E F Benson based his wonderful character Quaint Irene on Hall. A very loving and kind caricature.
The beautiful Church of St Mary is a 12th century building with many additions over the centuries. E F Benson commissioned a stained glass window, and there is a stunning Burne Jone's Pre-Raphaelite window, as well. We climbed the Tower to enjoy the view from the top. The Church Tower plays an important role in the novels. During one of the many episode of minor and trivial war between Mapp and Lucia, Lucia feigns illness and retreats from the social scene. Mapp, however, climbs the church tower and spots Lucia enjoying her callisthenic exercises in the garden.
A bonus for this holiday was the connection between Rouen and Rye, in the form of Rumer Godden. Such a pleasant surprise. I love these unexpected connections.