later additions.  It has a stern, gaunt appearance, and until recent times was used as a jail.  The church possesses many points of unique interest.  The builders began in the twelfth century to build the tower and transepts, which are Norman; then they proceeded with the nave, which is Transitional; and when they reached the choir, which is very large and fine, the style had merged into the Early English.  Later windows were inserted in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.  The church has suffered with the town at the hands of the French invaders, who did much damage.  The old clock, with its huge swinging pendulum, is curious.  The church has a collection of old books, including some old Bibles, including a Vinegar and a Breeches Bible, and some stone cannon-balls, mementoes of the French invasion of 1448.

[Illustration:  West Street, Rye]

Near the church is the Town Hall, which contains several relics of olden days.  The list of mayors extends from the time of Edward I, and we notice the long continuance of the office in families.  Thus the Lambs held office from 1723 to 1832, and the Grebells from 1631 to 1741.  A great tragedy happened in the churchyard.  A man named Breedes had a grudge against one of the Lambs, and intended to kill him.  He saw, as he thought, his victim walking along the dark path through the shrubs in the churchyard, attacked and murdered him.  But he had made a mistake; his victim was Mr. Grebell.  The murderer was hanged and quartered.  The Town Hall contains the ancient pillory, which was described as a very handy affair, handcuffs, leg-irons, special constables’ staves, which were always much needed for the usual riots on Gunpowder Plot Day, and the old primitive fire-engine dated 1745.  The town has some remarkable plate.  There is the mayor’s handbell with the inscription:—­

O MATER DEI
MEMENTO MEI.
1566. 
PETRUS GHEINEUS
ME FECIT.

The maces of Queen Elizabeth with the date 1570 and bearing the fleur-de-lis and the Tudor rose are interesting, and the two silver maces presented by George III, bearing the arms of Rye and weighing 962 oz., are said to be the finest in Europe.

[Illustration:  Monogram and Inscription in the Mermaid Inn, Rye]

The chief charm of Rye is to walk along the narrow streets and lanes, and see the picturesque rows and groups of old fifteenth-and sixteenth-century houses with their tiled roofs and gables, weather-boarded or tile-hung after the manner of Sussex cottages, graceful bay-windows—­altogether pleasing.  Wherever one wanders one meets with these charming dwellings, especially in West Street and Pump Street; the oldest house in Rye being at the corner of the churchyard.  The Mermaid Inn is delightful both outside and inside, with its low panelled rooms, immense fire-places and dog-grates.  We see the monogram and names and dates carved on the stone fire-places, 1643, 1646, the name Loffelholtz seeming to indicate some foreign refugee or settler.  It is pleasant to find at least in one town in England so much that has been left unaltered and so little spoilt.