Artefact Collection

There is a large collection of wheeled vehicles including carts, shepherds huts, living vans and agricultural machinery.

• Many items are displayed in buildings on our site, and others are kept in a ‘use’ collection for demonstration, handling and loans.
• A daily guided tour at 1.30pm takes visitors into our open access stores in the basement of the Downland Gridshell affords a general overview of the stored items.
• A comprehensive database contains details of all items and many images, and is available to visitors on site. The database without images can be accessed on this site HERE.
• Visitors may have a particular interest in a part of the collection and may wish to study such items in more detail; in order to meet these needs greater access to the collections is made possible via an appointments programme. See contact details HERE.

All the Museum’s collections, including the artefacts, are governed by the Museum’s Acquisitions and Disposals Policy which you can see HERE. This describes what we can collect, and our collecting region.

For further information please contact the Museum Curator, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The comprehensive reference library relating to vernacular architecture, building conservation and rural crafts and skills is one of the leading archives in the country on these subjects. This library is now available on line through the West Sussex Past Gateway and the Search facility on this website can be used to find article titles or book titles.

Archive

The archive is a large collection of notes, reports, photographs, maps and other material relating to vernacular architecture including the buildings re-erected at the Museum.