The Future

When the current buildings are completed, work will start on the re-erection of Court Barn.

Barns are ideal buildings to use as interpretation exhibitions and it is intended to use this building in such a way. It is to be re-erected in the Wheelwrights Forge complex and will house an exhibition illustrating the work of plumbers and leadworkers. This scheme is being aided by sponsorship from the Worshipful Company of Plumbers, who approached the Museum with the proposal. The work of plumbers and leadworkers is an important part of building history and its illustration within the Museum will form an important addition.

Part of the barn will also house an exhibition concerned with the conversion of timber: it will show traditional tools and transport used in the preparation of this basic building material.  In addition, a small section will be devoted to lime burning and brick making. 

The reconstruction of the building will be reasonably quick and straight forward.  However, the exhibition is unlikely to be open to the public until the beginning of the 1979 season. 

David Russell of John Schewert and Partners (also a member of the Management Council), has agreed to act as architect to the scheme. The contribution to be made by the Worshipful Company of Plumbers is gratefully acknowledged. Their enthusiasm, as well as financial help, is a major factor in the implementation of the project. 

On the completion of this building, work will start on the reconstruction of the Horsham Shop. This will be followed by the Hall House from Bexley, known as North Cray. The former has been reported in these pages in detail. North Cray will be the subject of a detailed report in the next issue. 

Monument Trust

The Monument Trust have agreed to support three craftsmen for a further three years.  This future sponsorship is yet another example of the generous support given to the Museum by the Monument trust. 

Job Creation Scheme

During the summer months, a Job Creation Scheme has been operated at the Museum. Three craftsmen have been employed for six months. Towards the end of the scheme only two, one carpenter and one stonemason, remained with the scheme. They have been employed on the Lurgashall Mill and the Crawley Hall. 

Warren Cottages 

The restoration of two cottages in West Dean village is now well underway. One cottage will provide much needed accommodation for staff, a commodity very scarce in this area. The other will eventually provide accommodation for the growing number of people willing to spend a week or two working at the Museum. With this facility, we hope to be able to encourage volunteers to offer their services to the Museum.

Buildings  in Store

The commitment to buildings has grown considerably over the last few years. Below is a list of buildings in store, or on their original site, to which the Museum is committed.

To be dismantled:

Visitor Attendance Figures 1977

As expected, we have seen a decline in visitors this season. The weather has not be conducive to visiting outdoor sites. Below are the monthly figures. 

Congratulations Roger Champion and Heather Jackson

Roger Champion, our master craftsman, and Heather Jackson, education officer at the Museum, were married in the autumn. 

Roger was the first member of the Museum staff. Many of you will know of the contribution that he has made to the standard of craftsmanship at the Museum and in many other ways. Heather has developed the education service, with confidence, until it is now making an important contribution to educational services in the area. 

I am sure that, as a team, they will achieve even more. 

New Format Newsletter

Help!

Practical Volunteers

The need for this class of volunteer is once again growing. During the past year many tasks have been undertaken by groups and individuals, some coming to stay near the Museum as a holiday. Their contribution is much appreciated. 

However, so that we can expand this help and organise with greater efficiency, the Director is seeking a voluntary organiser, who can help with the supervision of helpers on site. Most weekends the Director is on site but is not always able to work with groups. The need for someone keen and reasonably fit who can take charge of groups some times during the weekends is very essential. 

If more than one willing Friend comes forward for this task, so much the better. 

ANYONE INTERESTED PLEASE MAKE CONTACT.

Tenth Birthday

In the last Newsletter, Friends will have read the note about the Tenth Birthday of the Museum. It would have been pleasant if possible to have held a major celebration. How­ever, members will, I am sure, agree that we should not use our efforts and funds for celebrations but rather to continue the development of the Museum. 

A small celebration will, however, be arranged to take place after the Friends' Annual General Meeting. 

In early August, a small party was held at the Museum for the Council of Management, to which a number of people who have helped the Museum in special ways were invited, particularly those who have helped financially. The function was also intended as a promotional event. Those of you who read the local press releases after will have realised that the results were very satisfactory. 

However, it should once again be said that without the voluntary help the Museum has been so freely given over the past years, nothing would have been possible. We hope that many of you will be with the organization at our "Silver Jubilee". 

Events 1977

During the summer a number of events took place at the Museum. Some of them are listed below. 

Increasingly, it becomes possible to extend the use of the Museum. The more events and activities we can host or encourage the more life will be given to the Museum. If readers have any ideas and can help with organisation, please let the Museum know.

Safety

Increasingly, we have to pay attention to safety on the site. Stewards can help us by picking up cans and any dangerous items that tend to lie around, or by reporting to the Warden dangerous situations that occur. 

Thank You

On behalf of the Council of Management, may I express thanks to all the Stewards who have made the season possible by their continued contribution. Your help is essential. Many thanks. There are also a number of people who have made special contributions. However, it would be invidious to make any special mention of individuals but to these people we are especially grateful. 

I trust for those of you who are not involved with us during the winter that the rest from the Museum will give you new enthusiasm for next year: We look forward to seeing you then. 

The Museum is open during the winter on Sundays from 11.00 a.m. to 4.00 pm.

Major Grants and Sponsorship Recently Received.

The Museum is extremely grateful for the support and also for the help received from many individuals. 

Summer School

Winter Use

Between November 1977 and March 1978 inclusive, on Wednesdays and Thursdays, the Museum will be offering a limited opening to schools wishing to visit the Museum. All schools wishing to use this facility must book. 

We are now able to offer the Goodwood Granary as an educational room for children involved in specialized project work. This could prove useful as a base for children wishing to do detailed drawings or measuring of buildings etc.

Alternatively, slides and visual aids dealing with relevant information could be shown.

The formation of a Trust to take responsibility for the restoration of the Mill at Salvington, has now taken place. Representatives from Worthing Borough Council, The Friends of the Salvington Mill and the Museum, came together for this project. The Worthing Council have given the project very exceptional support and have allocated £5000 to the Trust towards the cost of restoration. Fund raising is now in progress and it is hoped that work will start in earnest early next year. 

Salvington Mill is the last survivor of several mills, which once supplied the needs of the Worthing area. It is very complete but the condition of some parts of the structure are poor. 

It is a post mill, with a later and altered roundhouse. It formerly worked with two pairs of stones (a head and tail layout) driven by four common sails which have now been removed.

The aim is that not only will the Mill be restored to working order, but that also a small interpretation complex should be established close by the Mill. This would deal with the history of milling and related agricultural practice in the Worthing area. Co-operation between the bodies involved, also the Worthing Museum, should result in the establishment of an interesting site museum. 

The "Friends of Salvington Mill" is the fund raising and supporting organisation. Anyone who is interested in helping this venture should contact: Brian Mcluskie, Esq., 17, Wentworth Close, Worthing, Sussex.
 

R.W. McDowall CBE MA FSA 

Robin McDowall, who has been associated with the Museum since its inception, joined the staff of the Commission as an investigator in 1936. As Secretary, he is now the senior member of the permanent staff. The opinions expressed are his own personal views and not necessarily those of the Commissioners. 

The usual function of a Royal Commission is to provide the Government with information of a professional or technical nature. The Royal Commissions on Ancient and Historical Monuments were first appointed in 1908 by a government that was faced with threats of destruction of historic buildings but had no information on which to base a policy of preservation. Three Commissions were appointed, for England, Scotland and Wales, to make inventories of monuments and to recommend those especially worthy of preservation. Monuments included all constructions illustrative of the contemporary life and culture of the people. The remarks that follow relate to the English Commission only. 

It was originally envisaged that the production of a complete Inventory with accompanying recommendations would be a fairly speedy process which might take perhaps twenty years. But the Commission's policy of historical analysis and description would have made this impossible even if the original terminal date of 1700 had been adhered to. In the event the listing of historic buildings for immediate planning control was undertaken after the 1939-45 war by the Ministry of Town and Country Planning, later Housing and Local Government and now the Department of the Environment. But the climate of public opinion which has made 'listing' acceptable to the general public and much of the expertise of those who compile the 'lists' have largely grown out of the researches of the Commission. 

The Commissioners, normally fifteen in number, are eminent historians and archaeologists, many of them professors, and are appointed by Royal Warrant. They direct the work of a permanent staff who are paid out of government funds, but are not civil servants. They include investigators, photographers and illustrators, with clerical support. The Commission is quite independent of the Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings of the Department of the Environment. 

The Commission is best known by its published county inventories which now cover field monuments and buildings from the earliest prehistoric times up to 1850, but it also has other responsibilities beside the preparation and publication of these inventories. The county surveys themselves are accompanied by recommendations for preservation and these recommendations are of considerable assistance to the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate of the Department of the Environment, especially in the preparation of lists of field monuments for scheduling. On occasions the Commission's survey work brings to light buildings of a major importance which might otherwise have been mutilated or destroyed in spite of the 'listing' procedure, which is necessarily of a more perfunctory character. An outstanding example is the 13th century Old Deanery at Salisbury, which was only recognised for what it was after careful examination by the Commission.

Apart from such more spectacular discoveries the Commission's inventories provide a much fuller and more detailed analysis of the monuments recorded than the D.G.E. lists, which are generally based on superficial appearance alone, and, of course, they cover monuments of all sorts. 

Since 1953 the Commission has accepted responsibility for the recording of monuments at risk; this includes field monuments in danger from quarrying, mining and afforestation as well as new methods of agriculture, and buildings. Responsibility for recording 'listed' buildings has since been acknowledged in the Town and Country Planning Acts so that 'listed building consent' is conditional upon facilities being given to the Commission to record. 

The detailed examination of buildings at risk has on occasion led to unexpected finds and to the preservation of important remains. This work also led to the development of detailed studies of the timber-framed buildings of the southern Pennines and to the fortified farmhouses of the Scottish border. Neither of those groups of buildings had previously received the attention they deserved. 

The first ten years of this work was reviewed in Monuments Threatened or Destroyed (1963) which called public attention to the extent of the buildings at risk and provided the evidence that enabled Duncan Sandys to succeed in the establishment of Conservation Areas. 

This recording of buildings at risk over the whole of England gave the opportunity for an appreciation of the variety of vernacular buildings over a wider area than had ever before been attempted. The author's own work in this field was taken over by Eric Mercer, whose assessment of the historical problems raised was published as English Vernacular Houses (1976) which emphasises the Commission's interest in relating the buildings recorded to the wider field of social history. 

On the prehistoric side the Commission also published an earlier review of the prehistoric sites threatened by gravel digging, A Matter of Time (1960). This book highlighted the enormous number of archaeological sites which the growing use of aerial photography was bringing to light. It recognised that the surviving evidence of pre­history was far greater than the Commission could ever hope to record in detail or to explain without excavation, and called attention to some of the particular areas where intensive archaeological work by locally based research was needed. The lessons of A Matter of Time were appreciated in some areas but it was a decade before they were given national expression with the establishment of Rescue. 

Before the last war and in the early years that followed the Commission were almost alone in the analysis and recording of historic buildings and ancient structures. Archaeologists were concerned with excavation and the classification of their finds. The Ministry of Works was concerned with the physical preservation of monuments in its care and its historical researches were limited to elucidation of those monuments. During the last twenty-five years the whole scene has changed. 

On the buildings side there has been an enormous growth of public interest in the smaller traditional buildings, so that not only is there a flourishing national Vernacular Architecture Group, but there are numerous local groups concerned with the study of the buildings in their localities, including those in Surrey and Sussex, which maintain a close liaison with our museum. The existence of the museum at Singleton itself, and the public interest it attracts, bear witness to the new public consciousness of our architectural heritage. 

On the archaeological side recent years have seen the appointment of archaeology officers by many local authorities, either as part of their museums service or attached to the planning department, and the establishment of district county or regional archaeological units (many with financial backing from the D.O.E.) in almost every part of the country. Some Archaeology officers may be primarily concerned to give planning advice to their Councils, and local units may be primarily concerned with excavation, but all these officers and organisations require to know the extent of which historic monuments survive in their areas. A recent enquiry has shown that there are now only two counties in which some effort to produce a full list of sites and monuments is not making some progress. 

English Vernacular Houses showed that there is more to the study of houses than identifying and dating surviving examples. Archaeology too has moved beyond the identification of individual constructions and the classification of finds. Archaeology today seeks to relate the surviving evidences of manmade structures not only to each other but to the whole man­made landscape in which they are set. And it has become clear that man's influence on the landscape of this country is not confined to the historical period. The individual sites identified and described in local 'sites and monuments records' need to be analysed in depth and combined into a wide archaeological or historical picture. 

This is going to call for the closest possible co­operation between the Commission and every local unit or group. 

For years it has been the subject of wry jokes that the Royal Commission could not complete its tasks before most of the monuments to be recorded had ceased to exist, but with the support and co-operation of local enterprise this need not now be true. The Commission has begun to build links with local authorities which should lead to joint inventory productions. County councils have given support to the work of the Victoria County Histories; if they will now give support to the Commission there can be real hope for satisfactory progress towards the fulfilment of the Commission's task. 

The Council for British Archaeology recently produced a document calling for drastic restructuring of the whole of public service archaeology; this, it seems, is not likely to bear fruit. What is more pertinent to the immediate way forward is the latest paper issued from the Ancient Monuments Inspectorate, Rescue Archaeology: The Next Phase, which was the subject of a recent article in "The Times". 

The Museum's Pottery Research project is under way again after an absence of some two years while the scheme was re-sited in the woods above Winkhurst House. 

Under the direction of Worthing archaeologist, Con Ainsworth the first kiln firing of the new project took place at the end of August and valuable information was gained. 

The main aim of the pottery project is to discover more about the craft of pot manufacture in medieval times, with the aid of a re-constructed kiln based on local archaeological evidence. 

The small group of pottery volunteers are based now in the Coldwaltham Sheds, re-erected by another Worthing volunteer Mike Coviello, and his team. Here Robin Cooksey has been using a kick­wheel to throw pots based closely on evidence of medieval pottery. 

The kiln built in the new pottery area is a re­construction based on an excavated kiln at Binsted, near Arundel, West Sussex. A third of the size of the original kiln, it is a twin flue, updraft type built chiefly with clay from Clapham, West Sussex. 

The kiln at Binsted was in operation in the first quarter of the fourteenth century - a date arrived at both by documentary and scientific evidence.  The Binsted kiln was large and tells us something of the demand for pots in medieval times. The original had space for firing 800-900 pots and would have been used over and over again many times. Con Ainsworth has now constructed an entrance to the kiln based on evidence which would have enabled the medieval potter to load and unload his kiln without disturbing the kiln structure. 

Pots fired in the kiln are to be based on pottery found during the course of excavating the Binsted kiln. The principal pot discovered was "West Sussex” ware;  pots glazed with lead and copper. Evidence was also found for cooking pots of various types and specialised roof furniture, such as chimney pots and finials. 

The kiln reconstructed at the Museum will take about 600-700 pots, but for the first firing only 150 pots were made. 

Con Ainsworth and his team began firing the kiln at 2 pm on a Saturday and by 4.30 am the next morning the necessary high temperature of 1000^oC had been reached. The pots were cooked!  After leaving sufficient time for the kiln to cool, it was opened at about 6 pm on the Sunday evening and the pots extracted. 

The success rate of the pots at this first firing was not as high as at previous firings in the original project. The answer to the problem lies in the composition of the clay used for the pots, particularly the quantities of sand added to the clay.

More pots will be thrown in preparation for the next firing. The next stage in this project will be to construct another kiln: very small and not based on any particular archaeological evidence so as to enable firings of about a dozen pots. 

In the long term the aim of the pottery group is to reconstruct a rectangular tile kiln based on archaeological evidence from the one at Binsted.

Note 1. Purchases for resale include the purchases of stock for the start of the 1977 season. The profitability of the shop is approximately 48%, a slight drop from previous years when we enjoyed a 52% profit margin.

As can be seen from the list of buildings to which we are committed, the need for continued fund raising is still with us. As before, may we ask Friends to consider making suggestions for sources of funds and, should they have good contacts, these would be extremely useful to know of.

A number of people have recently made provision in their wills for the Museum to benefit from a legacy. This development is especially encouraging as it is so very essential to prepare for the future financial stability of the Museum 

Note 2. This surplus is not of course a surplus in the usual sense. A considerable proportion of the figure is made up by grants and donations given for a building that has not yet been completed. Other amounts provide for projects not yet in the Museum's programme. The Museum needs to plan for an operating surplus and should not be working so near the margin that it would be unable to cope with an unforeseen situation. This policy has been illustrated by the bad weather and so therefore smaller receipts this year. It has been usual to expect the April receipts to provide a surplus over expenditure but this year the start of the season was so bad that this was not achieved.

The surplus from the previous year enabled expenses and salaries to be met without worry.

In the last twenty years, numerous new museums have grown up in Britain, many of them outside the established framework of national and local government organisations. These new independent museums, usually set up as charitable trusts, and many of them embracing new concepts, represent a substantial proportion of the effective growth of museums and are making a growing contribution to museum thinking.  Almost all are characterised by voluntary support and participation and whilst many have been financed entirely from within the private sector, others have combined private and public funds to realise objectives which for various reasons are not being achieved by the appropriate public bodies. 

At a meeting of the directors of several independent museums, held in autumn 1976, it was decided to set up an Association of Independent Museums to represent their interests at national and regional level and to provide a voice in the current debate on the future of museums in Britain. An interim statement has already been sent to the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries. 

In June 1977, a meeting was held at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, which was attended by a large number of representatives from independent museums. The meeting was addressed by Lord Donaldson, Minister for the Arts. 

Neil Cossons, Director of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, reviewed the track record of independent museums, He pointed out that independent museums represent one of the major growth areas in British museum development in the last ten years. 

The meeting agreed that A.I.M. should be established and a Steering Committee be formed to report back with a draft constitution, listing objectives and the financial structure of such an organisation. 

The Steering Committee is now established and will report in the near future.

Looking Backwards - Looking Forwards

John Lowe.

The Museum is celebrating its 10th Anniversary this year. The Friends of the Open Air Museum cannot yet claim to be so vener­able, although we are not so far behind. On 6th November, 1969, I wrote to the Department of Education & Science requesting charitable status for the Friends and on 29th August, 1970 (the D.E.S. take a long time to answer letters!), the Inaugural Meeting was held in the West Dean Village Hall. 

Much has happened since then. A year later, we had seven hundred members and had raised £6,444. Over the next year or two the membership rose to over a thousand and the Friends were able to give money to many important projects at the Museum. The summer parties became an institution, a large number of the Friends gave invaluable volunteer service at the Museum, and the Friends became an integrated and vital part of the Museum's organisation making a major contribution to its remarkably rapid success. Material support is always valuable, but so is moral support, and the continuing interest and enthusiasm of the Friends has been a great encouragement to the staff. 

The time has now come for me to retire, partly because of other demands on my time, but more  so because I strongly believe in change and new ideas.

I have had great pleasure from running the Friends and am deeply grateful for all the support and friendship I have received, both as Director and since. I could not be more delighted that Bernard Johnson is taking over. It is time for developments, for more events for recruiting more members and he will do all of this.

I would ask you to help him in two particular ways. 

Please try to recruit some new members. Please, if you can afford it, give a little (or a lot) more than your basic subscription. The Museum has a large number of buildings; all of importance, waiting for re-erection and every penny you give to the Friends goes to the Museum - primarily to buildings. 

The Annual General Meeting at County Hall on Saturday, 3rd December, will be my swan song and I hope I may be able to entertain you with an illustrated talk on The History of Tea Drinking Around the World, another of my studies on the relationship between social history and the arts, starting with the mythical first tea drinking Emperor of China, and following through this "sweet herb" to the concealed gin of Mrs. Gamp's teapot!

Thank you again for all your support and encouragement. The Friends have been very important to me and very important to the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum which, like the Friends, will go from strength to strength. 

The New Honorary Secretary

Mr. Bernard Johnson has kindly agreed to become Honorary Secretary of the Friends when Mr. John Lowe resigns at the Annual General Meeting on 3rd December, 1977. Mr. Johnson will be known to many of the Friends for, his many years work as a volunteer at the Museum, as an enthusiastic member of the Friends' Committee and as the excellent organiser of the successful excursion to Bokrijk last May. In the view of the retiring Honorary Secretary and the Friends' Committee, the Friends could not be passing into more capable hands. 

From 3rd December, please  will members address all enquiries to the Honorary Secretary to Bernard Johnson, c/o The Museum. 

A Tour for 1978 Home or Abroad?

It is hoped to organise a long weekend excursion for members in 1978. Would, you be more interested in a home tour of open air museums in this country OR another short tour to Europe?

What time of year would suit you best? Have you any special suggestions? If you would like to join a tour, please write at once to Bernard Johnson (c/o the Museum) answering the questions above. 

The British Association of Friends of Museums

The Open Air Museum is now a member of this organisation which organises a number of interesting events each year and aims to stimulate interest in Friends of Museums and Art Galleries throughout the country. It is also affiliated to the World Federation of Friends of Museums, which in turn mounts international conferences each year. Our membership entitles any Friend to take part in the British Association's activities. In future their notices and publications will be shown on the notice board at the Open Air Museum. 

Free Entry for Guests

Considerable confusion has arisen in the last year or two about who is allowed to bring their guests, free of charge, to the Museum during the open season.

The following rules have been agreed by the Friends' Committee. The Committee know that you will appreciate that the survival and development of the Museum depends on entrance fees and it is not, therefore, in the best interests of the Museum to spread this privilege too wide. 

a. Life Member: One free guest.
b. Ordinary Member: No free guests.
c. Family Member: Includes  husband, wife and children.
d. Volunteer/Volunteer Steward: Immediate family and one free guest.

Accounts

Friends of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum
Registered as a Charity with the Department of Education and Science No.L243587/3 

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

for the year ended 31st March 1977 

We certify that the above accounts are prepared from the books and records produced to us by the Friends of the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum and from information supplied and that to the best of our knowledge and belief they are in accordance therewith. 

Dominican House,
St. John’s Street
Chichester, Sussex.
23rd August 1977.
Chartered Accountants.