The Weald and Downland Living Museum (known as the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum until January 2017) is an open-air museum in Singleton, West Sussex. The museum is a registered charity. The museum covers , with over 50 historic buildings dating from 950AD to the 19th century, along with gardens, farm animals, walks and a mill pond.
The principal aim at the foundation of the museum was to establish a centre that could rescue representative examples of vernacular buildings from South East England, and thereby to generate increased public awareness and interest in the built environment. The museum principally promotes the retention of buildings on their original sites unless there is no alternative, and encourages an informed and sympathetic approach to their preservation and continuing use.
The buildings at the museum were all threatened with destruction and, as it was not possible to find a way to preserve them at their original sites, they were carefully dismantled, conserved and rebuilt in their historical form at the museum. These buildings, plus two archaeological reconstructions, help the museum bring to life the homes, farmsteads and rural industries of the last 950 years. Along with the buildings, there are "hands-on" activities, such as cooking, and weaving, and a number of yearly activities, including seasonal shows, historic gardens weekend and Tree Dressing.
History
The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum was launched in 1967 by a group of enthusiasts led by the museum's founder, the late Dr. J.R. Armstrong MBE. The land for the museum was provided by a local landowner, Edward James of West Dean at a peppercorn rent. The objective was to rescue vernacular buildings that would otherwise have been demolished. The museum first opened to the public on 5 September 1970.
The principle of an open-air museum was well established in Scandinavia as a way to create a three-dimensional setting for explaining the way of living or working. Open-air museums allowed the buildings to give context to the techniques, equipment, furnishings, clothes and art of the period.
Buildings
Aisled Barn The barn was originally built at Prior's Leaze Farm, Hambrook, Sussex, somewhere around 1771. It has a timber frame of oak and elm clad with weatherboards, and a roof thatched with reed. The most characteristic feature of the Hambrook barn is the aisle, which continues round the ends as well as the sides of the building. The eaves thus form a continuous line except for the high barn doors, which were needed on one side to allow loaded wagons to enter. The barn houses an exhibition showing traditional building materials and building methods, including displays on bricklaying, glass work, lead work, iron work, tiling and thatching. During the repair of the barn, the year 1771 was found scratched on an original rafter. The date was covered by a batten from the original thatched roof and probably records the date of construction of the building.
Barn from Cowfold
This timber-framed barn dates from the 16th century and originally stood at Cowfold, Sussex, and is a typical late-medieval example from the Weald. The timbers have been analysed by dendrochronology (tree-ring dating) which revealed that they were felled in 1536, so the barn was probably built soon after this. In the museum, it is sited to form a farmstead with Bayleaf farmhouse.
Bayleaf farmhouse
Bayleaf farmhouse is a timber-framed Wealden hall house with a peg tile roof, dating from the early 15th century. The building has four rooms on the ground floor and two on the first floor. In the upper chamber, the windows in the solar have vertically sliding shutters, and there is even a garderobe. It was originally built at Ide Hill, Kent, and was donated to the museum in 1968 by the East Surrey Water Company, as the creation of Bough Beech Reservoir threatened its destruction. The building was dismantled in the winter of 1968–69.
Brick-drying shed The brick-drying shed was originally located at the Causeway Brickworks, near Petersfield, Hampshire. It is 80 feet long, was built in 1733 and now houses an exhibition of traditional brickmaking. The Causeway Brickworks closed down early in the Second World War – in common with many others – because the glow from the open-top kiln was an obvious landmark for enemy aircraft. Another, more recent, drying shed from the same brickyard has been re-erected at the Amberley Working Museum.
Carpenter's shop
The carpenter's shop was originally built at Windlesham, Surrey, and dates from the late 19th or early 20th century. The building is constructed on a rough timber frame, with the main posts dug into the ground rather than being placed on a sole plate. The frame is boarded with vertical boards, the joints being closed by a cover strip, and the structure was protected by a coating of tar.
When the workshop was given to the museum it was still equipped with many of the tools and materials that had been used by the carpenter. The benches were in position and some of the tools were still on their racks or in their boxes.
Cattle sheds
Five open-fronted cattle sheds have been re-erected at the museum, which date from the 18th to 19th centuries.
The small, three-bay shed is from Lurgashall and is located near the Bayleaf farm house.
The seven-bay shed from Kirdford was originally joined at right angles to another of eight bays, together with a barn. It has been re-erected next to a shed from Goodwood, forming two sides of a yard.
The shed from Goodwood has a shepherd's room in one end, suggesting that the shed and the yard may have been used for sheep as well as cattle. This shed now contains a display of horse-drawn farm implements.
A shed from Rusper forms part of the museum's working-horse stables, and a shed from Coldwaltham is next to the charcoal burner's camp.
Charcoal burner's camp
The charcoal burner's camp was one of the original exhibits when the museum first opened to the public in 1970, and charcoal burning was the first rural trade to be demonstrated. The camp exhibit shows the process of making charcoal. The kiln had to be watched whilst the charcoal was being produced, so the burner lived on-site in a hut.
The camp was recently refurbished with the advice of retired charcoal burners who had used traditional earth-covered clamps until 1948.
Court barn
Court barn dates from the late 17th or early 18th century. It was originally built at Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire. It had the normal arrangement of a central threshing floor between the storage bays and there is an owl loft above the entrance. The building houses an exhibition on the use of lead in buildings and plumbing, stonemasonry and stained glass work. The barn was dismantled in 1976 and re-erected at the museum in 1980. The work was funded by the Worshipful Company of Plumbers. The BBC TV series The Repair Shop has been largely filmed in the barn since 2017.
Crane
The crane was made by John Smith Ltd of Keighley, Yorkshire, in 1900 and was originally installed at a farm in Alton, Hampshire. It is rated at 5 tons capacity and is worked by hand. It forms part of a reconstructed timber yard.
Granary
The granary was built in 1731 at West Ashling, Sussex. It has a timber frame filled with bricks, and a thatched roof. The building measures square, which makes it one of the larger granaries. It is built on sixteen staddle stones as an anti-vermin measure.
Gridshell
The Weald and Downland Gridshell was constructed in 2000–2002. An innovative design built primarily to create an accessible store for the museum's rural life collection, it also houses the museum's conservation workshops, and an exhibition area is in the foyer. The building has won eight awards, and was runner-up for the RIBA 2003 Stirling Prize.
Hall
This medieval hall house was originally built at Boarhunt, Hampshire, in the 15th century. It is of cruck frame construction, with brick walls and a thatched roof. The building was rescued in 1971. Photographs show that the house was extended to about double its original size but only the medieval section of the house was dismantled and re-erected at the museum. The hall is about square in plan, with a service room at one end. The other end of the original building was lost due to various extensions and alterations over the centuries. The reconstructed building contains about 30% of the original timbers, which would normally prevent its reconstruction. An exception has been made in this case as the surviving original timbers are well distributed, and because of its unique cruck frame construction.
Hangleton Cottage A small flint-built thatched medieval cottage modelled on two excavated dwellings at the deserted medieval village of Hangleton, Hove. The Ministry of Public Building and Works undertook an archaeological dig between 1952 and 1954 and uncovered eight 13th and 14th-century buildings. Hangleton cottage represents a typical peasant dwelling of the period based on archeological evidence of these excavations, with a main room with an open hearth and an inner room with an oven. Hangleton declined during the agricultural crisis of 1315 to 1322 and then the Black Death of 1348, so that by 1428 there were only two dwellings on the site. The DMV was excavated owing to post-WW2 suburban expansion of Hove.
Horse Whim
The horse whim is housed in an open-fronted thatched shed that was originally at Charlwood, Surrey. It was used to raise water from a well. The horse whim was originally built at West Kingsdown, Kent. It was rescued by the museum in 1980 and re-erected in 2000.
House, Lavant
This house dates from the 17th century. It originally stood at Lavant, West Sussex. Externally it has been restored to its 17th-century appearance, but it has a modern interior. The building is used as an education room for school and youth visits to the museum.
House, Walderton
This house was originally built at Walderton, Sussex. It has a timber frame dating from the 15th century, with flint external walls added in the 17th century. It has a thatched roof.
House extension
This building was the rear extension of a house in Reigate, Surrey, added in the 17th century. It has two carved fireplaces and there are the remains of wall paintings. This building is not currently open to the public.
Joinery shop
The joinery shop was originally built at Witley, Surrey, and dates from the late 19th or early 20th century. It houses an exhibition on building construction.
Longport Farmhouse
The Longport Farmhouse is a typical Kent farmhouse and was formerly located at Folkestone, Kent, but was threatened by the construction of the Channel Tunnel. The earliest part of the building dates from 1554 and was originally attached to a medieval hall, which no longer exists. From the late 16th century through to the early 20th century various extensions and alterations were made. The farmhouse was dismantled in 1992 by a team from the museum and the Canterbury Archaeological Trust and reconstructed in 1995. During the reconstruction the museum tried to reconstruct faithfully the historic building as it came into the 20th century, with all its phases of alteration. However, the 17th-century chimney stack was not reconstructed, but was dismantled and recorded in such a way that it could be reconstructed in the future. In leaving it out the museum created an open space in the building to allow it to serve as the entrance and shop, and to better demonstrate the historic development of the farmhouse. The farmhouse also serves as offices for the museum.
Market Hall