The 3 East Street site of the Rye Castle Museum re-opens on Saturday 4 April, after the winter closure.
Staff and volunteers have been busy over the last few months updating some of the displays and working on cleaning and recording the archives. The heavy doors damaged last year in an accident have been restored and installed.
One new display includes ‘fowling pieces’, antecedents for the modern shotgun, used in the hunting of wild birds for food, sport or trade. This was part of 19th century life on the marsh which was rich in waterfowl, and both the wealthy and men who worked as fishermen or shepherds, took part in fowling.
While the museum has been closed, volunteers have set up a new display on hop farming and have started to collect local memories of people who were involved in hop picking.
The museum has a large collection of objects relating to hop growing and picking including photographs, postcards, Rye Pottery hop ware and tools used in hop farming. There is an extensive collection of hop tokens from different farms. These were given to hop pickers to exchange for money at the end of the season or to use in local shops.
Chris McGrath, one of the museum volunteers, has researched the location and names of hop farms which are marked on a map hung as part of the new display. He has also made a short video on the hop growing and picking process today at Tibbs Farm, which will be showing throughout the day.
Chris explains how he got involved with the project:
“After several years as a carer, in 2025 I was at a loose end and looking for an interest. I went along to the weekly volunteer mornings and was put to work on the hop display, beginning with sorting the hop tokens, for display in the coin drawers. Another volunteer, Stephen Morrall, also helped with digital recording.
“The museum has documents listing hop farms and growers, so I decided to put my love of maps to use, by highlighting all the hop farms I could find within 10km of Rye station, the main transport hub to the hop market in Borough Market. I traced about 170 farms or oast houses. By this stage I was becoming obsessed with all things hops.
“It soon became apparent that this industry was complex, extensive and worth a lot of money. This was the case from the mid-1900s up until just after WW2, although few growers remain. My first contact, who shared details of the growing process, was Rob Morris, who was still growing hops in Brede to 1980. He explained how the hops were picked in a frantic few weeks in September being measured by volume in bushel baskets, recorded by a tallyman, then gathered in a sack poke, for transport to the oast house.
“I contacted a remaining hop farm, Tibbs in Udimore, and the current farmer Phil Wheeler, who allowed me to photograph and film the hop gardens from stringing between the poles in March, to cutting, sorting, drying and baling the hops in September. My son Euan edited these into a short film.
“Another valuable resource during the year was Dr Pat Agar, from the hop growing Comport family, who gives talk on hops and who has donated hop tokens and moulds to the museum. She told me that fortunes were made, and lost, growing hops!”
Becoming a museum volunteer is a very rewarding experience and, as Chris’ contribution shows, is a fantastic way to find out more about the history of Rye as well as helping to present this information to the public.
The museum will be holding a drop-in session to see the new displays and to share any memories that they may have about hop picking in the afternoon of Saturday 18 April from 1.30pm to 3.30pm. The museum is free and there will be delicious refreshments available.
The museum will be hosting a Children’s Craft Afternoon at East Street on Saturday, 4 April between 2pm and 4pm. This is a free event suitable for children aged 4-11 with an accompanied adult. This will be a paper making activity and we will be making an Easter bunny.
3 East Street site is open only at weekends from 10.30am to 4.30pm and subject to availability of volunteers. The Ypres castle site is open every day except Christmas Day.
Image Credits: Rye Castle Museum , Juliet Duff .