Explore Rye House: One of England’s oldest brick buildings and site of a foiled regicide

Just outside the edges of north London is one of the oldest post-Roman brick buildings in England, and also the location of a notorious plot to kill a King.

Rye House sits on what was once an island surrounded by marshes. The land was acquired by a Danish solider, later known as Sir Andrew Ogard, who imported Flemish brickmakers to build his new house, which ended up as a fortified estate, with a seemingly overlarge gatehouse to permit entry to the walled estate and manor house behind.

It passed through several owners over the centuries, one of whom was the future Queen of England, Catherine Parr, but by 1834, it was being used as a local workhouse for the poor.

However, it was sold in 1864 to Henry Teale, who turned the site into a Victorian pleasure ground. This was hugely successful – in fact, so successful that the small stop on the nearby railway was upgraded to a full station to cope with the crowds. Eventually, the pleasure grounds closed, and the site was left to ruin until it was restored in 1989 and opened to the public.

However, historic building aside, this was also the site of the Rye House Plot, an attempt to kill King Charles II and the future King James II by conspirators concerned that their new monarch was just a bit too Catholic for their tastes.

In March 1683, the King travelled to Newmarket for the races, and was expected to ride back to London on 1st April, so the plotters arranged to meet at Rye House, where they would then attack the current King and future King and kill them.

However, God intervened.

Rather than something nice, such as a letter or warning a priest, God burned down much of Newmarket town instead, which some have argued could be considered a bit excessive as warnings go. Anyway, with half the town in ruins, the King simply had to leave early and thus avoided running into the assassins who were still on their way to Rye House.

God was merciful to the King, but not to the plotters, and most of them were arrested in the following few months.

There are disputes over how much the failed Rye House plot influenced the much larger Monmouth Rebellion a couple of years later, but a number of people were involved in both. My favourite fact about the Monmouth Rebellion is that in seeking to depose the newly crowned King James II, the rebellion’s leader, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, was also self-anointed as King James II.

It’s the first time that both the holder of the Crown and the challenger for the Crown had the same regnal name.

Today, the gatehouse is all that stands above ground, but the estate’s layout has been highlighted in brick paths in the ground. So you can stand in the kitchen or the great hall, or walk around the perimeter of the walled estate. Just mind the copious quantities of bird shit in the lawn.

Normally, walking around is all you can do, but for a handful of Saturdays each year, the gatehouse itself is also open to go inside for a look.

I admit I wasn’t expecting much more than an empty building, but the restoration and interpretation are excellent.

Two small rooms on the ground floor tell the history of the House and the Plot, and you can look down at, but not go down to, the cellar — which was described as a prison by the pleasure grounds but was probably just a cellar. Do admire, and I really do mean that, the brick handrail that runs around the staircase, as it would be impressive today, but for exceptional for a “mere” gatehouse and one that’s nearly 700 years old.

The first floor is a large hall-like single room, likely important as it was decorated with painted plaster. The prize up here is the large-scale model of what they think the estate looked like, and while the manor house seems oddly small for such an estate, you do get an impression of how large the rest of the site was.

As the gatehouse is an important example of early brickwork, there’s a lot here about the bricks and how they’re made.

The small turret at the top offers some pretty good views across the local countryside. Ok, the trees get in the way in places, and the view isn’t entirely bucolic in others, but it’s still pretty good to be up here looking around.

You’re also getting a rare chance to stand close to the brick chimney, which has a design that would later become popular on Tudor palaces. The crow wasn’t too interested in me and kept preening itself.

Overall, a visit lasts longer than I had expected because while it’s a small building, there’s a lot to delight when visiting. Also, on arrival, you get a decent introduction from the person at the desk.

The Rye House gatehouse is open most Saturdays in the summer months from 11am to 3pm, and entry is free with donations appreciated.

Check opening dates here.

What else is nearby

Um, well, not a lot, frankly.

You could, however, get off the train one stop early at Broxbourne and then walk up to Rye House because there are a couple of things to see along the route.

Lowewood Museum

A large Georgian manor house is now the local history museum. While modest in size inside, it has a decent enough collection to make a visit quite interesting. It’s very much a council museum, so expect everything from mamoth bones to a case of Roman remains, right through to Victorian industry. Prize of place is given to something that would be frowned upon today—a stuffed tiger.

I was quite charmed by the straw model of London’s Temple Bar. There’s also a lot about the nearby Tesco head office, which moved away in 2015. The old office building is now a housing estate.

The museum is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 4:30pm and is free to visit.

The museum also tells the story of the Tudor painting you will see soon—discovered a decade ago when The Star pub was being refurbished. Considered to be of national importance, the paintings are inside the pub and protected behind glass, so pop in for a look.

The Star pub

A Weatherspoons pub in the town centre opposite the clock tower, the building is a former 16th-century inn converted from a 14th-century barn that was bought by Wetherspoons in 2013. It was during the refurbishment that the Tudor paintings were found underneath the modern decoration.

A previous owner was none other than Queen Elizabeth I’s chief advisor, William Cecil, Lord Burghley, although he didn’t seem to notice that he owned it, as there are letters complaining about the condition. However, by the 1630s, the pub was considered the best in the area and often hosted important visitors travelling between London and their country estates.

The panels were seemingly hidden and lost, maybe in the 18th century, and only recently rediscovered. I popped in for a look, and while it felt a bit odd to walk around looking at the walls, the locals barely even glanced at me, so I guess tourists of Tudor heritage aren’t that unusual.

The clock tower

Big, very big, impressive, and a shade under 200 years old.

Alternatively, if visiting Rye House gatehouse, afterwards you could head northwards from Rye House to the town of Ware — and more about that shortly.

Getting to Rye House

Rye House is about 35 minutes from Liverpool Street station on Greater Anglia trains to Rye House station.

From the station, it’s about a 5-minute walk to the gatehouse itself.

Oddly, the TfL journey planner struggles with the idea that trains stop at Rye House station and keeps trying to tell you to go to the neighbouring stations and catch a bus to Rye House. It’s wrong, as any other railway journey planner will confirm, the trains do stop at Rye House Station as you would expect.