BECKLEY

 A pretty, genteel village on the outskirts of Rye, Beckley manufactured a range of iron-based goods including guns and cannons for almost 200 years, with production starting in 1578 and grinding to a halt in 1770.

It was also the home of Thomas and Maria Smith who emigrated to Australia, and went on to develop the much-loved 'Granny Smith' apple.

Like a lot of villages, the population migrated away from its' original location during the Black Death plague in the 14th. century, leaving the church a little isolated on the village outskirts.

It has a wonderfully carved lych-gate.

Legend says that one of the murderers of Thomas Becket, Sir Reginald Fitz-Urse, galloped from Canterbury to Beckley to seek sanctuary in the church, his right hand still covered in the blood of the Archbishop. In his desperation the knight overlooked the fact that treason and sacrilege had put him beyond the pale. 

Church House stands elegantly opposite the War Memorial in the corner of the churchyard. Not a good place, to have held anti-Puritan sympathies 300 years ago. The Rev Thomas Sharpe and his wife lived at Church House and were so seriously assaulted by Cromwellian soldiers that Mrs Sharpe later died of her injuries.

Guns were made in Beckley, as was glass - it must be pure coincidence that there is a Glass Eye Farm in the parish!