- The cellar at 2 Upper Bridge Street, at the corner of Upper Bridge Street and Stonegate, was designated as a Scheduled Monument in 1986 (list entry 1003604). Visitors can easily identify the top of the cellar entrance at ground level, but the size, scale and beauty of what lies below can only be appreciated by a visit underground. We have little accurate detail on how undercrofts were built or indeed who built them. There is no formal record of their builders.
- The wine cellars are usually found in historic port towns. The most famous of these near Wye was Winchelsea which was a hub of the medieval wine trade. The Undercroft in Wye would almost certainly have started life as a wine shop and opened in the late 13th century. During this period Wye was part of the estates of Battle Abbey.
- Records show 736,000 gallons of wine were shipped to Winchelsea, East Sussex in the early 1300s. Some of this made its way to Wye where the Undercroft would have stocked a vintage of Bordeaux wine called “Gascony red”. The route from Winchelsea to Wye is uncertain, but wine was probably transported overland via Tenderden. It is not known when the wine store closed, but an Elizabethan house existed above it until 1875. There may be a strong link with the Collegiate Church of Wye and the training of thirsty priests in what was later to become Wye College.
- The medieval Undercroft in Wye is a well-preserved example of its type. It includes some significant medieval architectural details such as the ribbed vaulting, corbels and roof boss. The main entrance is at street level but there is also an original brick spiral staircase at the rear of the vault as illustrated in the sketches by Ptolemy Dean. The walls of the cellar created in the 13th century are made of roughly coursed flint, but the six ceiling ribs, corbels and central roof boss with a floral motif are made of Caen stone from France in the perpendicular style. Perhaps the boss representing a rose is of Plantagenet origin.