2-888-667 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Procession near the Church, at Rye, 1850. State visit of Thomas Farncomb, Lord Mayor of London, to the town of Rye in Sussex. 'The day will be memorable in the borough annals, being marked not only by the state visit of the Lord Mayor, but by the opening of the line of railway from Ashford to Rye, which was, for this especial occasion, rendered available to the Lord Mayor and his friends...All was holiday in the town of Rye; most of the shops were closed...Flags were flying from the church...Ths bells...rang merry peals at intervals, and the population of Rye poured into the streets'. As well as 'Carriages with the Lord Mayor's Suite and Friends', the procession included 'A large number of Carriages and Horses of Gentry...Councillors on Horseback...[and] A Painted Boat on wheels, with Sailors'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.