In the centre of Iden is a special building; a bus shelter built to commemorate the coronation in 1953, next year it will be celebrating its own platinum jubilee. It’s a place to chat whilst waiting to see if the bus will turn up on time, it’s also a place to observe the swallows who return here every year and entertain us with their navigation skills as they enter the roof through a hole not much bigger than themselves.
During lockdown, a neatly constructed display case appeared in the shelter entitled ‘The Iden Museum of Field and Garden Finds’ displaying items found in and around Iden – it seems we have acquired our own guerrilla museum!
No one seems to know who is in charge of this mysterious museum, there is also an Instagram page although this has been rather quiet recently, it would be interesting to know who is responsible for the cabinet which is much appreciated by the village.
Iden looks beautiful in the spring, the verges are full of daffodils, the roads have also acquired matching yellow ’30mph’ and ‘Slow Down’ signs. Unfortunately, the signs did not deter the driver who tail-gated me from Playden recently and was really aggressive when I slowed down to 30mph. We often hear the screech of brakes as drivers take the bend too fast, let’s hope that some of them will take notice of the signs.
Image Credits: Yvonne Metcalfe .
The mystery of who is responsible for the artefacts and its splendid cabinet is well matched by why Iden does not have any permanent road calming indicators in Main Street and Wittersham Road in aid of attempting to prevent the type of selfish behaviour referred to by Yvonne. Although 30mph signs welcome drivers, many regard these straight bits of road as race tracks and care little for the speed restrictions or the last resort cardboard signs that the Parish Council has installed in the hope drivers will obey them.
There are also the hazards of a road junction, sharp bend and traffic backing up outside Iden Stores in Church Lane.
The Parish Council has asked Highways at East Sussex County Council on several occasions for the installation of similar flashing speed indicators that other nearby villages have- whilst these are often ignored, they do at least have some positive effect upon drivers. Highways’ answers to date have been that until there is a fatal or serious accident, it will not consider such signs or other speed calming measures
It is very odd that Wittersham just 3 miles away and part of Kent County Council has a main street where is it impossible to drive at over 30 mph yet has at least 3 flashing signs as reminders of the speed limits.
It is frankly unacceptable that residents along Iden’s busy through roads have to endure this sort of driver behaviour and that we have to wait until a death or serious injury before Highways consider whether something should be done.
I am under the impression Highways’ duty is to prevent accidents.
It took Iden Parish Council’s persistence over many years to have the speed limit introduced and in due course it will prevail in this case, hopefully before a serious accident.
I’m thrilled to see that the bus shelter has survived so long and will see the Platinum Jubilee. There can’t be many bus shelters that have lasted that long in the country and I’m grateful to the Parish Council for ensuring its upkeep and maintenance over the years. My Grandfather, Jason Richards, built the shelter all those years ago and I’m sure he would be delighted to see it still standing
I’m sure the shelter will be receiving some extra TLC next year Simon!
Thank you Yvonne for giving me the opportunity to vent my frustrations about the speeding problem we have in Iden
And thank you and Simon for drawing our attention to the wonderful bus shelter we have and its history. Many of us just take this treasure for granted and bearing in mind its coming Jubilee, I will ask the Parish Council to see whether this can be Grade 2 listed to match the already protected status of the telephone box which is opposite and another of Iden’s icons.
That would be amazing Michael
There’s no mystery as to who has produced that display: she has an active instagram account connected to it. I’m surprised the author and all the commenters don’t know her. It sometimes feels like people who write on this website don’t actually live in this area at all!
[Moderator note. Quite a few Iden residents and others have enjoyed following. @iden_museum_of_field_finds. Unfortunately there has not been much activity recently. Hopefully now the weather is better the mystery curator will be finding more.
Henry is wrong about the Rye News team who are all “locals”]
I live in the centre of the village, I follow @iden_museum_of_field_finds but I don’t have a clue who the real person is behind this display nor do any of my Iden friends, so to us it remains a mystery! I have picked up a few clues – she/he walks a dog and keeps chickens but anyone in the village who meets this criteria have denied it is them when questioned…
What an interesting article Yvonne, just what Rye News has been asking for! As part of the Rye News team and a regular contributer myself it’s difficult to cover the whole area as much as we would like and we need locals like you to send these stories in, its what the readers want, thank you and keep ’em coming!
I would love to see more local news stories from outside of Rye, especially to learn about upcoming Spring / Summer fetes, or anything that encourages us to visit and support the local villages. Perhaps something needs to be done to reach out to those places and encourage them to let Rye News what’s going on? I know there’s a What’s On page but that’s all Rye events and Pilates classes. Or maybe no one has village fetes anymore?
Interesting story. I may be forced to pull over and view the ‘museum’s’ exhibits! One thing I loved and have greatly missed, is the Iden Summer Fete. To me, it was the quintessential English county fair. Is it gone for good?
The bus shelter was substantially rebuilt following a car crash in around 1969.
There was a Young Farmers dance at the Village Hall and one of the attendees was late arriving and overshot into the bus shelter which was severely damaged!!
I have a vague recollection of that – I was 11 – I wonder if it was reported in the local newspaper at the time – would have been the Sussex Express and County Herald
As a child I used to take great delight in climbing up into the ‘loft’ area of the bus shelter and hiding there listening to the conversations below. It was a thrill because I thought I’d get into such trouble if anyone caught me. How times have changed. There was also a small knot hole on the front through which you could spy on the street and the pub area. Iden was a great village to live in as a youngster then c1977-80.