About Rye & District Bonfire Society
Rye & District Bonfire Society is the volunteer-led organisation responsible for Rye’s annual Bonfire Pageant, one of the most distinctive celebrations in East Sussex.
The modern society was revived in 1994, restoring a major Bonfire celebration to Rye after several years without one. But the traditions surrounding fire in Rye reach far further back, with the town’s maritime history, old Bonfire Boys, burning boats and elaborate processions all contributing to the character of the modern event.
Today, Rye & District Bonfire Society is known for its burning boat, Rye Fawkes, torchlit procession, Dragon of Rye and fireworks at the Salts, while fundraising throughout the year helps meet the substantial cost of staging the event.
Rye Burns Its Boats
Perhaps the tradition most closely associated with Rye is the cry:
“Rye Burns Its Boats.”
The society’s own history traces the custom back to Rye’s violent medieval past. During the fourteenth century, Rye was an important Cinque Port and frequently suffered attacks from France. One theory is that townspeople burned their own vessels rather than allow them to fall into enemy hands.
Whatever its precise origins, the practice of burning boats became deeply embedded in Rye’s later Bonfire tradition.
By the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, men were hauling boats through the streets and burning them as part of the celebrations.
Sometimes the boats were not exactly donated willingly.
One famous story tells of a man from Icklesham cheering as a succession of burning vessels passed through Rye, only to realise rather too late that one particularly fine yacht was his own.
When the Bonfire Boys Ruled Rye
Nineteenth-century Bonfire in Rye could be extraordinarily disorderly.
Contemporary accounts describe crowds armed with swords, cutlasses and bludgeons, along with barrels of tar and oil hidden around the outskirts of town.
Boats were seized, filled with burning material and dragged through narrow streets with flames reaching towards the rooftops.
One particularly notorious incident came in 1875, when Head Constable Parker Butcher attempted to stop the procession.
The crowd responded by throwing him into a burning boat, top hat and all. He was eventually rescued, but later developed a serious illness and died the following year.
Attempts to control the Bonfire Boys continued.
In 1884, Superintendent Bourne and PC Henley tried to stop a crowd from taking a boat from a shipyard at Rock Channel. Bourne was knocked unconscious and Henley had his helmet battered in.
By the 1880s, Rye had become notorious for its inability to control the annual Fifth.
The Taming of the Bonfire Boys
The disorder gradually began to give way to organised societies.
In 1898, the Globe became the headquarters of one branch of the Bonfire Boys, and by 1905 the group was known as the Military Road Bonfire Boys.
These later organisations represented a significant change from the unruly gangs that had previously dominated Bonfire Night.
One historian described the transition as “the taming of the Bonfire Boys.”
The fire, noise and procession remained, but the celebration increasingly became organised rather than uncontrolled.
The Dragon of Rye
One of Rye’s most memorable modern traditions is the Dragon of Rye.
The enormous mechanical dragon was created in the early 1950s by local engineer Francis Bellhouse and went on to lead the procession for many years.
The Dragon was no simple carnival float.
An operator inside controlled its movement, allowing the creature to rise, fall and move from side to side.
Its eyes could move, its mouth opened to produce roars and – most spectacularly – it could blow flames around three feet from its nostrils.
Illuminated by its own lights and surrounded by hundreds of flaming torches, the Dragon became one of the most recognisable sights in Rye Bonfire.
It also developed a life beyond the procession, appearing in pantomimes, publicity events and charity shows.
Rye Fawkes
Rye also has a particularly distinctive interpretation of Guy Fawkes.
Rather than simply placing an effigy on the bonfire, the society has a living ceremonial character known as Rye Fawkes.
Over the years, the role has been taken by an extraordinary range of people.
Past Rye Fawkes have included William Hartnell, the first Doctor Who; Spike Milligan; Rod Hull and Emu; Vic Reeves; John Ryan, creator of Captain Pugwash; and Arthur Brown of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown.
In 1956, the role was even taken by Norman Fawkes, described by the society as a direct descendant of Guido Fawkes.
Since 2009, the right to become Rye Fawkes and light the bonfire has been auctioned to the highest bidder at the society’s annual Auction of Promises, helping raise money towards the celebration.
It has turned one of the evening’s ceremonial roles into an ingenious fundraising tradition.
Revived in 1994
Rye’s modern Bonfire story began again in 1994, when a new Rye & District Bonfire Society revived the town’s celebration after a period without an event.
For that first revived celebration, Spike Milligan became Rye Fawkes and lit the fire.
The new organisation continued the charitable character of earlier Rye Bonfires, with the Rye Swimming Pool Association among the beneficiaries.
From there, the celebration grew again, gradually restoring many of the traditions associated with Rye Bonfire.
Jimmy Jewhurst
One of the most remarkable figures in Rye Bonfire history was James “Jimmy” Jewhurst.
Born at Rye Harbour in 1875, Jimmy claimed to have joined the Bonfire Society at the age of seven.
He went on to become one of its longest-serving members, reportedly missing only one event in 70 years, and that was because he was in hospital following a cycling accident.
Jimmy became famous for preparing the materials needed for Bonfire.
In 1951, at the age of 77, he was reported to have made more than 1,200 faggots for the celebration.
The following year he was also cutting around 400 torch sticks and 100 fire poles.
His dedication became so well known that newspapers around Britain – and even overseas – published stories and photographs about him.
For his 80th birthday in 1955, Jimmy received a Toby Jug recognising his long service to Rye Bonfire.
The Torchlit Procession
Modern Rye Bonfire centres on the Grand Torchlit Procession through the historic town.
Members of Rye & District Bonfire Society are joined by visiting societies, drummers and other participants before processing through the streets towards the Salts, where the bonfire and fireworks await.
The mixture of medieval streets, historic buildings and flaming torches gives Rye a particularly atmospheric setting.
The procession has traditionally included fire carts and the burning boat, while the society maintains specialised roles including a Parade Captain, Torch Captain, Firecart Captain and Captain of the Burning Boat.
The Burning Boat
The burning boat remains one of the most important features of Rye Bonfire.
It links the modern celebration directly with the centuries-old tradition behind the cry “Rye Burns Its Boats.”
Rather than simply being a decorative element, the boat represents a story deeply rooted in the history and folklore of the town.
Rye’s position as a former major port, its conflicts with France and the later antics of the Bonfire Boys have all become bound together in the custom.
When the boat appears amid torchlight and fire, it provides one of the clearest examples of Rye turning its own local history into living ceremony.
Around £20,000 to Stage Rye Bonfire
Rye Bonfire is a major public event, and staging it has become increasingly expensive.
Rye & District Bonfire Society estimates that the complete evening now costs around £20,000 to put on.
Interestingly, the society says the fireworks themselves are relatively insignificant compared with expenses such as insurance, security and modern safety requirements.
The society receives no public funding for the celebration, meaning the entire cost has to be raised through members, supporters and fundraising.
Fundraising Throughout the Year
Rye & District Bonfire Society works throughout the year to raise the money needed for November.
Fundraising activities include auctions, boot fairs and quiz nights, alongside donations and crowdfunding.
The Auction of Promises is particularly important because it also determines who will become that year’s Rye Fawkes.
The society also receives considerable practical assistance from neighbouring Bonfire organisations, particularly Robertsbridge and Hastings.
That cooperation demonstrates how much Rye’s celebration depends upon volunteers both inside and outside the town.
Membership
Rye & District Bonfire Society actively welcomes new members.
The society particularly encourages younger people from Rye to become involved, recognising the importance of passing responsibility to another generation.
There are many different ways to participate.
Members can dress up and process, collect money, help marshal the event or take on practical responsibilities connected with torches, fire carts, the bonfire and the firesite.
The society’s current structure includes captains responsible for marshalling, the parade, the site, collecting, torches, fire carts, pyrotechnics and the burning boat.
It is a useful reminder that an event experienced by spectators over one evening requires a substantial organisation behind the scenes.
Rye Bonfire 2026
The 2026 Rye Bonfire Pageant is currently planned for Saturday 14 November, although the society is still marking the date as to be confirmed.
If confirmed, Rye will once again bring together the traditions that make its celebration so distinctive: torchlight through the historic town, Rye Fawkes, the burning boat, visiting societies and fireworks at the Salts.
For the society, it will also mean another year of fundraising, preparation and volunteer work coming together in a single November evening.
Rye Burns Its Boats
Few Bonfire societies have traditions as closely connected with the history of their town as Rye & District Bonfire Society.
The roots of “Rye Burns Its Boats” lie in a town whose relationship with the sea, warfare and fire goes back centuries. By the nineteenth century, the Bonfire Boys were dragging burning vessels through the streets and occasionally battling anyone who tried to stop them.
Later generations transformed that disorder into an organised pageant.
The Dragon of Rye, created in the 1950s, added flames and theatre to the procession. Jimmy Jewhurst became famous for producing more than a thousand faggots at an age when most people would have long retired from such work. And the role of Rye Fawkes has been filled by everyone from William Hartnell and Spike Milligan to local residents who won the honour at auction.
The modern society, revived in 1994, continues to bring those traditions together while facing the modern challenge of raising around £20,000 every year to stage the celebration.
From burning boats and Victorian Bonfire Boys to mechanical dragons and celebrity Rye Fawkes, Rye & District Bonfire Society preserves a celebration that could belong to nowhere else but Rye.