House Magazine Spring 2006
[Magazine Index] [Back to News] [Home]
|
Timber crane restored ready for new
working life
|
|
The timber crane currently being restored
for the Museum’s new timber yard is expected to be completed by spring and
will provide an extremely interesting addition to the Museum’s working
machinery.
The work is being
undertaken by the collections team in the Jerwood Gridshell Space and
progressing very well considering the complexity of the project and the very
heavy weight of each of the pieces involved. The crane, which has been in
the Museum’s collections since 1997, is from Basing Home Farm, near Alton,
Hampshire, where it was used to move timber from carts and waggons into
stores and workshops.
During the winter all
the ironwork was freed and removed from the large, vertical ‘A’ frame which
forms the crane’s central structure. Attached to this are all the other
parts – the jib and outriggers, the cable drums and winding gears. Much of
the ironwork had seized during its years of inactivity and it took great
effort and perseverance on the part of Ben Headon and Paul Pinnington to
free the mechanisms. One of the winding shafts and gears had to be replaced
due to irreparable damage, but it is hoped these will be the only pieces of
new ironwork required.
The ironwork was
treated and reinstated onto the ‘A’ frame in full working order. The next
piece in the jigsaw was the huge outriggers which attach to the top of the
‘A’ frame and run at a 45 degree angle to the ground behind the crane; these
huge lengths of timber provide stability, strength and a point of
counterbalance when loads are lifted using the jib.
Some of the original
timbers from the ‘A’ frame have been retained for reference purposes,
although the frame is now comprised totally of new, Douglas fir softwood
which will provide sufficient structural strength when the crane is
re-erected and used in the Museum’s reconstructed timber yard.
Julian Bell
Curator
|
Crane and winding
gear, before. |
Crane and winding
gear, after restoration. |
The larger cable drum
after restoration. |
The completed 'A'
frame. |
|
The ironwork was treated and reinstated onto the ‘A’ frame in full working
order. The next piece in the jigsaw was the huge outriggers which attach to
the top of the ‘A’ frame and run at a 45 degree angle to the ground behind
the crane; these huge lengths of timber provide stability, strength and a
point of counterbalance when loads are lifted using the jib.
Some of the original
timbers from the ‘A’ frame have been retained for reference purposes,
although the frame is now comprised totally of new, Douglas fir softwood
which will provide sufficient structural strength when the crane is
re-erected and used in the Museum’s reconstructed timber yard.
Julian Bell
Curator
|
Trug workshop moves to the Museum
|
|
The contents of one
of the oldest established trug making workshops in the country have been
given to the Museum by the owner following a decline in the market for the
craftsman made items.
The Museum was
approached in December by Mr Robin Tuppen who had run the long established trug workshop for the past 25 years. The firm he operated was initially set
up by Thomas Smith of Herstmonceaux, East Sussex in the 1820s and is the
latest incarnation of this company which through the course of its existence
won a Gold Medal at the 1851 Great Exhibition, supplied trugs to Queen
Victoria and was awarded the Royal Warrant. More recently Mr Tuppen battled
to keep the craft alive by diversifying into more modern materials,
introducing the plywood trug and working hard to develop markets abroad.
Very sadly, the workshop is no longer commercially viable, suffering from a
very poor market and cheap imports from China.
Mr Tuppen was unable
to keep the business afloat any longer. However, being extremely passionate
about the art of trug making and keeping the craft alive, he was keen that
the contents of his workshop should not simply be broken up and sold, but
remained together, so that trugs could continue to be made in one form or
another, or at the very least, their manufacture could be demonstrated. To
this end, he contacted the Museum who agreed that the workshop contents
should come to us.
Most of the equipment
from the workshop arrived at the Museum just before Christmas and we are now
awaiting advice from Mr Tuppen so that the items can be catalogued. He and a
colleague are very keen to demonstrate the art of trug making at the Museum,
and a suitable area and working arrangements need to be finalised to enable
this to happen. |
Trug formers in the
workshop
Raw materials and
completed trugs. |
New additions to the collection
|
|
An hay press....
This very rare hay
press is one of a range of interesting items which have been donated to the
Museum over the past few months. The hay press comes from Peter Hall of
Newdigate, East Sussex and was originally from Betchworth. It has been
conserved by Ben Headon (now a full-time member of the collections team) and
John Walshe. We have also received a very interesting collection of hop
tallies and tokens, transferred to our collection from Horsham Museum used
originally in Kent and Sussex ; an impressive grain crusher from Leila
Frodsham of Haywards Heath, West Sussex, who found it in an old mill she had
purchased, and a very sound and complete Sussex Waggon (among other items)
from Tony White of Yapton, West Sussex which may be used as a replacement
for our site waggon which has degraded badly in recent years.
...and a churn
stand
Curator Julian Bell
and Guy Viney have restored a recently donated timber-framed churn stand
with an extended platform and tiled roof. The stand comes from Mr Boam of
Fittleworth, West Sussex and was still in its original place outside a
farmhouse which he has restored. The stand has been situated at the
entrance to the Museum, a similar situation to that in which it would have
been on its original site. In the photographs, the stand is seen on its
original site, and in its new location by the Museum entrance.
|
 |
 |
Museum catalogues on the Web
|
|
Web surfers can now access the Museum’s library and collections catalogues
on the internet. The databases form part of the West Sussex Past Gateway, an
initiative of the County Library Service.
In 2001
the Library Service made a successful bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund to
enable the formation of a West Sussex Photo Heritage Database. Seven local
museums are partners in the project, with each contributing a selection of
images to be scanned into the database at the project headquarters in
Worthing. Eventually over 6,300 images were acquired, of which more than 20%
were from this museum, chosen by volunteers Sue, Anna and Richard Hilder.
The pictures can be viewed at
www.westsussexpast.org.uk/pictures/, and can be freely downloaded or
printed for private or educational use.
Having
established the photo database, the Library Service then moved on to create
a remarkable research facility for the county. The eight members of the
Pictures Consortium were joined by another nine institutions to form the
West Sussex Heritage Consortium, including the University of Sussex,
University College Chichester, Horsham,
Crawley
and Worthing Museums, and the West Sussex Record Office. Between them, the
partner organisations have contributed 29 databases comprising about 2
million records of books, images, archives and objects.
So how do
you access this goldmine of data? The key to the project is innovative
software called DScovery. Simply type a word or two as search terms, and the
gateway software finds all the records matching your terms. Try it - go to
www.westsussexpast.org.uk and follow the links to the gateway. |
[Magazine Index] [Back to News] [Home]
|
