The spring reopening of the East Street site of Rye Castle Museum on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6 was very busy, attracting nearly 250 visitors over the two days.
During the closed months the volunteers have been busy working on various projects in East Street. Some areas of the museum needed a bit of a tidy-up and cabinets and objects were given a spring clean. The entrance walkway trees and shrubs have been trimmed, opening it up and giving more light.
Having enough storage space is an ongoing challenge but director and volunteer Geoffrey Austen has done a great job thinking of ways to improve storage space through sourcing new cabinets and cupboards as well as working on other improvements including building a bespoke lightbox for the children’s area for tracing and colouring.
Many of the displays have been given a refresh. Director Yvonne Metcalf, assisted by Penny Bruce, has moved and redesigned many of the displays. The museum’s collection of historic seals which were rather hidden away in a corner cabinet and were hard to see, have now been given a larger section and are much easier to read.
With a recent donation of a dog on wheels from the Dean’s Rag Book company (formerly based in Tower Street in what is now Webbe’s fish restaurant), the cabinet showing the museum’s collection of toys was too small, so the display has been moved and more items added.
Adverts, plans, documents and architectural drawings of the housing from the 1930s in Cadborough Cliff and New Winchelsea Road have been moved and are easier to see.
The museums’ extensive collection of pottery, including medieval pottery, 19th century hop ware and Sussex rustic ware, and examples from the 20th century potteries of Rye, has been reorganised.
The collection of Tunbridgeware wood mosaic objects from Rye Mosaics have been given more space making it much easier to see the details and the skill involved in making the jewellery, boxes and other items inlaid with different types of wood.
Allan Downend of the EF Benson Society has kindly donated several important items to the museum including a poster for 1937 George VI coronation celebrations in Rye when Benson was mayor, two commemorative mugs, and the original drawing for a cover of Benson’s Trouble for Lucia. These have been included in a new display dedicated to EF Benson, positioned alongside the existing one on Mapp and Lucia.
The display dedicated to John Ryan – artist, cartoonist, author and animator – has been chosen and designed by Isabel Ryan, with lots of exciting new Captain Pugwash objects including actual moving illustrations for animating the Captain Pugwash TV series, artwork from Mary, Mungo and Midge TV programmes and comic strips.
The Tuesday Action Days, started in November on the third Tuesday of each month, saw many volunteers taking part in interesting activities from sorting photographs, to cleaning items, to researching and mapping local hop farms that have nearly all disappeared, and to preparing activities for children’s craft days. With wonderful lunches prepared and served by Jen and David Tomkinson, these days were a great success and they will continue every third Tuesday throughout the spring and summer.
East Street is a fascinating jewel of a museum, covering so many different aspects of the history of the town. Even if you have been before, it is well worth a revisit, especially as admission is free! There is a shop selling postcards, books, fridge magnets, history packs amongst other items.
The museum, run almost entirely by volunteers, is at two sites: see here for opening times at the Ypres Tower (or castle) and at 3 East Street.
Image Credits: Juliet Duff .