Tania and Peter Stemmer have visited Rye many times from their home in Melbourne in Australia, usually staying with Tania’s sister Alyona Kojevnikov on Udimore Road.
They first came to Rye in 2013, but on their last visit they saw a connection to home and wrote to Rye News asking for more information. Can you help?
For 10 years, we have been walking past the house with the Queen Victoria plaque on Ferry Road. It took until June this year to notice Australia and our neighbour New Zealand, mentioned on the plaque of colonies. We were thrilled! This was a WOW moment for us and sparked our curiosity as to its origin. Why is it there and not in the town centre? Did someone of importance with a connection to Queen Victoria live there? The mind boggles.
We would love to know more. We look forward with great interest to your findings.
The amazing history of Rye and its surrounds never cease to amaze us. We hire a car from Ashford and embark on some fabulous day trips around Sussex and Kent, but Rye is by far the most beautiful town of its size in the region. The cafes and restaurants offer the most delicious and varied culinary delights and the hospitality is like no other. I can go on and on and mention many venues, however the butcher in Cinque Port Street deserves a mention as he has some of the very best meat in the entire region. A home cooked Sunday roast of salt marsh leg of lamb is a favourite for us Aussies. As the salt marsh lamb season is short, we attempt to time our visit with the season. The grocer in the same street has the best variety of fresh fruit and vegetables in the entire town.
We thank you for taking up some research on the Queen Victoria plaque.
Can you help Tania and Peter? Leave a comment below or email info@ryenews.org.uk
Image Credits: James Stewart , Tania Stemmer .
The Queen Victoria plaque on Ferry Road was given by the Stanley Brothers brick and tile company. In 1887 and 1897 the company, based in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, produced these terracotta plaques to commemorate Queen Victoria’s 50 year and 60 year jubilees and gave them to houses built with their bricks. The row of houses in Ferry Row is called Stanley Villas.
For more info on Stanley Brothers see this link https://www.reginaldstanley.com/stanley-bros-brick-and-tile-works.php
Thanks Juliet for concise history.
A BIG THANK YOU Juliet. Our future visits to Rye will mean a lot more and we will stop and gaze at the beautiful Queen Victoria plaque every time we walk to the town centre.