An iguanodon returns to Lewes

When we landed on this year's theme 'A Night in the Museum' we knew we absolutely had to have a dinosaur in the Parade.

We are very lucky to have an incredible iguanodon skeleton puppet on loan to us for the Parade from the 'Wonky Palaeontologists'. We feel very honoured to be given the opportunity to show the amazing puppet in public again. The original project was the brain child of three artists at the Crescent Studios in Brighton, Katherine Griffin, Elizabeth Jardin and Carinan Blijdenstein. Read more about the puppet here!

One of our amazing Trustees, Abbie Stanton, who is also a brilliant artist spent an afternoon putting the skeleton of the iguanodon back together and making sure she is Parade ready for July!

This year's Moving On design features an Iguanodon as part of the 2025 theme 'A Night in the Museum'.  Gideon Mantell who lived in Lewes is famed with finding the fossils of the Iguanodon. However, new research has been unearthed which actually points to his wife, Mary Mantell as the discoverer of the Iguanodon. So our Iguanodon is named Mary!

Discovered in Sussex in 1822, a collection of teeth was the first evidence of the gigantic herbivore reptile, Iguanodon. This dinosaur and its closest relatives lived during the Early Cretaceous, between 140 and 110 million years ago.

To find out more about the Iguanodon and the Mantells head to the Natural History Museum's website