Detectives needed

Just a few miles from where I live there’s a little ancient town called Rye. One day when I was in rye nosing about the shops a tourist showed me the picture below and asked if I could give him directions to the arch.
After giving him directions I asked him where he’d gotten the picture, his wife then produced a copy and handed it to me explaining they both had a little bundle of pictures of the things they wanted to see, they then drove away. I know absolutely nothing about the origin of the picture or who the artist is. At the bottom right you can see what looks to me like the words No Gate which would mean the North Gate. Below that it’s not so clear but it looks like it says Rye……something.

Whenever I look at the picture I always end up thinking – When was it drawn? So, ats detectives, what’s your guess, what year was it drawn?

Enlarged and brightened a little.
Possible clues.
The people on the far left look like a group of soldiers, anyone else see that?
The lady nearest to us appears to have a dress that reveals her ankles, is that a clue?
The style of their hats must surely be a clue, any hat experts on ats??
There’s a man using a long pole to carry a sack, is that a clue?

This is dated 1866

PICTURE SOURCE

This is how it looks now - 2012

PICTURE SOURCE (Google)
Shame about the van

While searching for info on the picture I came across these dated 1866. They are all pictures of Rye.
Postmark dated 4PM - SP 7 - 09 So, would that be 1909 or 1809 ?

PICTURE SOURCE

How it looks now.

PICTURE SOURCE (Google)

Year !866

PICTURE SOURCE

How it looks now.

PICTURE SOURCE (Google)

So what’s your guess, when was it drawn? I’ll keep searching for information so hopefully we’ll get an answer.

For those interested in the old and ancient this is Camber castle, it’s a little less than a mile from Rye.

PICTURE SOURCE