Publications
Remarkable Cistern at Rye, by Ralph Wood, published 1976 in Sussex Industrial History (No. 7, article, pp.24-28) accessible at: W.S.R.O. [Lib 16389/7] & The Keep [LIB/506524] Download PDF
Abstract:One of the most astonishing pieces of architectural craftsmanship in Sussex, if not in England, lies almost buried in a churchyard. A small brick building - half underground - is located in the north east corner of St. Mary's Churchyard in Rye; its exterior is often noticed by the many visitors who pass along Pump Street into Church Square and it is admired no less by the town's residents for its curious oval tower with a tiled roof like an upturned boat.
It is the Cistern or Water Tower which was built in 1735 at a time when the small town was enjoying a period of increasing prosperity. What the visitor does not see and indeed in recent years few people can have seen - is the unique brickwork of the interior. If nothing is known about the builder of the tower at least its obvious quality testifies to a craftsman of skill and ingenuity and who must have been unusual even in the eighteenth century when traditional building techniques were at their most refined.
It is the Cistern or Water Tower which was built in 1735 at a time when the small town was enjoying a period of increasing prosperity. What the visitor does not see and indeed in recent years few people can have seen - is the unique brickwork of the interior. If nothing is known about the builder of the tower at least its obvious quality testifies to a craftsman of skill and ingenuity and who must have been unusual even in the eighteenth century when traditional building techniques were at their most refined.