The Weald and Downland Museum; a wonderful journey back in time to get a taste medieval life.
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Where is the Weald and Downland Living Museum?
Where is the Weald and Downland Living Museum?
The museum is situated 6 miles south of Chichester, 23 miles east of Portsmouth and 12 miles north-west of Bognor Regis.
Why visit the Weald and Downland Living Museum?
Discover numerous historic buildings set in forty acres of the beautiful South Down’s National Park surroundings.
A collection of over 50 restored and replica buildings from a time period stretching from Anglo-Saxon to Edwardian times (approximately 950 AD to 1910 AD)
Have a friendly and informative chat to numerous guides waiting to enthral you with the stories of these incredible structures.
Go inside and see the different kitchens, bedrooms and heating arrangements.
Watch various demonstrations taking place and discuss with some highly skilled craftsmen and women what they are doing.
It was one of the first sites in the country to be awarded the “Learning Outside the Classroom quality badge” and has also been awarded the “Sandford Award” for Heritage Learning
“We stumbled across this when the kids were small and went several times after that. It’s a brilliant place to take a young family, with lots to interest everyone and so much safe, traffic free space for little ones to run around.”
During school holidays and especially at half terms, family activities are on offer. “Make and take activities” to creative crafts are offered for all ages to enjoy.
What is there to see at the Weald and Downland Living Museum?
Bayleaf, is a timber framed cottage with wattle and daub between the framework. The wattle is basically woven strips of wood to make a lattice pattern that forms a base onto which a wet muddy substance called daub is smothered. Daub is a mixture of soil, clay, straw and animal dung! (note when it has dried, the mixture no longer smells of animal dung). Apparently, it has been used for over 6000 years as a building material. Building took place in two phases, the first being 1405-30. This type of house is called an open hall building and was a typical house for yeoman farmers in the south-east of England. A yeoman was a farmer who farmed his own land who was above peasants but below lords and squires who were owners of large areas of land that they rented out to others and did not farm themselves.
The end of Bayleaf has a garderobe or toilet projecting out from the side. This was a bit more civilised than having to go outside to release oneself or carrying a pot outside to empty. However, despite them covering up the deposits with earth every so often, it would have been rather smelly, especially on a hot summer’s day! There would also be swarms of flies around which would not be very pleasant.
The bottom floor is dominated by the hall which would have had an open fire in the middle. Smoke from the fire would find its way out via a small hole in the roof. Chimneys had been invented but open fire were still the fashion in this period. The room you can see behind the wall was used as a bedroom or general purpose area. The room above was called the solar, which refers to the private quarters of the head of the household. The name solar, has two possible derivations. One is from the latin word solaris, meaning sun because this was often the brightest/sunniest room in the house. Alternatively, it could come from the latin word ‘Solus’ meaning alone (and thus private).
Notice the small ropes connected to the wooden shutters that can be raised when the weather is inclement (rather like old train carriages in which a sash pulls the windows up). Glass was far too expensive to use for windows.
The curtains that surround the bed would keep the occupant warm, whereas underneath is a pull out or “truckle” bed .
In the corner of the room was the garderobe or toilet with a door for a degree of privacy.Below is a close- up of the garderobe.
The well ( no running water of course!)
Above you can see a reconstruction of a medieval cottage based on archaeological evidence from two cottages from the deserted medieval village of Hangleton. Notice the beehives at the end of the cottage. Honey was used to sweeten food and make mead, an alcoholic drink. It was also a very important medicine. The sugary nature of the honey could act as a antiseptic for dressings on open wounds, killing off bacteria. It was also present in numerous prescriptions for medicines.
It is thought that the cottage was built in the 13th century and fell into disuse in the 14th century. Being on the South Downs, flint was plentiful and a useful building material. Archaeologists are not absolutely certain that the roof was made of straw thatch as in this example and if not, it could have been an alternative form of thatch, or turf or, possibly, some form of wooden shingles.(pieces of wood that look like tiles).
Inside a cottage like this would be simple wooden furniture, an open hearth for warmth and cooking and a dirt floor.
Above you can see the medieval house that once occupied a plot in Sole Street,Kent, and although parts of it date back to the 15th century, the design you see here is dated from the 16th century. People in the Tudor period (the time of Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth I) would have been familiar with this type of cottage.
Above you can see a reconstruction of an Anglo-Saxon Hall based on archaeological evidence from a site in Steyning, West Sussex. It is dated 950 AD, a period 100 years before the Norman Conquest. This was about 50 years after King Alfred the Great’s death during the reign of King Athelstan and when England was still having warfare with the Vikings. The bloodthirsty, Viking, Eric Bloodaxe was driven out of Northumbria and killed at this time, having killed some of his own brothers!
Above you can see the typical and very simple wooden furniture. On the stool at the back left is a rectangular wooden bowl/plate, a kind of trencher. In the middle is an open fire, for cooking and keeping warm. It was probably pretty smokey in here on windy days and not very clean having soil for the floor. The walls are again made of daub smothered on woven hazel wattle. Hazel grew in abundance in this area and still does today. When they came to mix up the daub, they experimented with 4 different mixes of which the one they chose to use was loam,(Clayish soil) ox-dung and barley straw. The walls were then whitewashed with lime.
The building on the left of the photo above is Titchfield Market Hall built in the 18th century. Market traders would be based on the covered ground floor and a meeting place or offices would be the first floor. Some evidence, on the ground floor, has been interpreted as possible a temporary lock up or “cage” for offenders!
The building on the left is an example of medieval shops as you can see in the photo below. It originally came from Horsham and dates from the late 15th century. When the building was dismantled, the construction timbers from the area at the back of the shop were heavily sooted and this has been interpreted as being caused by fires used for heating and producing goods for sale such as smoked meat, pies or bread.
The musical instrument in the picture above is a lute guitar which was in use in Germany from about 1850. It was commonly used by German youth groups who were protesting against industrialisation and were called the Wandervogel (Wandering Bird) movement. Jez Smith, pictured here, is keen to share the history of music with a range of musical instruments. We would recommend taking out a few minutes for a fascinating chat with him and to listen to his delightful music.
Nearby the market hall is an impressive medieval house from North Cray, Kent. It is another hall house ie a central hall with, in this case, 2 rooms at each end. Central halls like this were common in houses built in southern and middle England. It is believed that this house was built in the 15th century and evidence from the timbers, show that it had red timbers, not the usual white for black timbers seen in stereotypical houses of this type. Apparently, painting the timber frames red can also be seen in medieval buildings in France and Germany. The timber used in this case was not oak, as was common, but elm.
Here too, there is an open fire for heating and cooking with a hole in the roof to allow the smoke to escape. In the early 17th century, the house was modified with the addition of a chimney. Two of the ground floor rooms at the end opposite the market hall were used for the storing food and drink: the pantry and the buttery.
This Lurgushall mill dates from the 17th century and was used to grind corn into flour and animal feed. Water comes onto the waterwheel at the top and thus is termed an overshot wheel. It creates power to turn two pairs of millstones, a grain cleaner and a sack hoist which is used to lift the heavy corn filled sacks to the top of the building where the whole milling process begins. When the shop is re-opened, you will be able to purchase flour milled here. It takes 200 gallons of water to turn the waterwheel and it operates at 6 revolutions per minute. The relocation of the mill took nearly 5 years and the careful restoration of the mill machinery took a further three years to complete.
The 19th century building in this photo is to house a pug mill. It is basically a giant , horse powered food mixer that churns clay until is has a smooth consistency with which to make bricks. A horse, attached to a beam, has to go around and around moving vertical paddles inside the black cylinder, churning the clay that can be removed, when it is ready, from the bottom.
The gentleman in the photo is making chair legs on a foot powered lathe. Like all the demonstrators and guides at this museum, he was very willing to discuss what he was doing to passers-by. It is fascinating to see how a flat sided piece of wood can be made into a cylinder shape with an exceptionally sharp chisel and a lot of foot power.
The gentleman here is making wooden spoons. He uses some very sharp knives of various shapes and a lot of skill, to create these beautiful spoons. As far as I can tell, he still possesses all of his fingers and thumbs! He is quite willing to tell you all about spoon carving whilst working as well as give out information about the house. I have photoshopped in a close-up of the table to give you a better view of the spoons.
Here you can see a plumber’s workshop from the late 19th century.
The photo above is a 19th century saw pit from Sheffield Park. The master sawyer stands on the top and pulls the saw upwards whereas the young assistant has to stand below, in the pit and pull the saw downwards whist getting covered in saw dust. Until steam power came along this was how tree trunks were sliced up to be building materials etc.
Essential information
Website
https://www.wealddown.co.uk
Getting there;
The Museum is located on Town Lane in Singleton, which is 7 miles north of Chichester.
By car:
Singleton, Chichester PO18 0EU
From the North take the A286 signposted to Chichester.
From the West or East approaching on the A27 enter Chichester and take the A286 north to Midhurst.
From the West or East approaching on the A272 enter Midhurst and take the A286 south to Chichester.
By bus:
catch the Stagecoach 60 service, which runs between Chichester bus station (opposite Chichester railway station) and Midhurst – the Museum is a 5-minute walk from the Grooms Yard stop in Singleton. Buses run every 30 minutes Monday – Saturday. On Sundays buses run every hour. For an up-to-date timetable visit the Stagecoach website.
By train:
the Museum is 7 miles from Chichester rail station and 15 miles from Haslemere station. Visit Southern Rail for trains and timetable information.
Tickets;
Covid restrictions mean that at the moment all tickets have to be booked on line, have entrance times and are limited in number.
Book online at ; https://wealddownland.digitickets.co.uk/tickets
Gift Aid admission:
£15.50
Adults
£13.50
Adults 60+
£7.50
Children 5–15 years / full time students
£42.00
Family (2 + 3)
£27.50
Family (1 + 3)
£5.00
Registered disabled and single helper
Free
Children aged 4 years and under
Free
Car parking
Gift Aid includes a voluntary donation to the Museum, which enables us to claim an extra 25% from the Government on the total amount that you pay. If you are a UK taxpayer, please complete a Gift Aid declaration.
Standard admission:
£14.00
Adults
£12.00
Adults 60+
£6.50
Children 5–15 years / full time students
£38.00
Family (2 + 3)
£25.00
Family (1 + 3)
£4.50
Registered disabled and single helper
Opening times
10.30am - 6pm (shop closes 5.30pm)
During British Summer Time
10.30am - 4pm (shop closes 3.30pm
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