September 28th, 2009

Russell — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:00:04 +0000

HALNAKER — Today I visited the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum just north of Chichester. Normally I try and visit two places of interest a day—one in the morning and one in the afternoon—but because the distance between Winchester and Chichester is so short, there weren’t a lot of places that appealed. This open air museum was one that did.

The aim of the museum is to increase awareness of the South East England’s vernacular architecture by relocating such buildings to save them from destruction. The buildings have been arranged to represent a village and a farm. Often the buildings were rebuilt to display their methods of construction. One house was originally built in the 15th century and then remodelled to the fashion of the times two centuries later. When the house was put back after relocation, one half of one room was put back to the 15th century while the other half was allowed to remain in the 17th. It was fascinating to see the difference.

Being a Monday, it was inevitable that the bane of tourists visiting museums—classes of school children—would be visiting on a school trip. Admittedly the ones I came across today were very well behaved, but I tried to avoid them if possible.

I also visited the museums conservation and workshop area, and joined in on a tour of the building just as the group went and had a look at the museums reference collection of thousands of artfacts from down the centuries: farm implements, doors and door-handles, leadlight windows, etc. The aim being that if somebody wanted to know what sort of door hinges were used in the 16th century, they would hopefully find an example in the collection.

Wynmelvin » Weald & Downland Open Air Museum

September 28th, 2009