House Magazine Spring 2009

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Collections Update

Wheat samples

Tony White of Yapton was a longstanding friend of the Museum and since his death in 2007 his widow, June, has continued to donate items from his collection. One of these is a beautifully framed display of 19th century wheat samples grown in the Brighton area. There are four different varieties: Original Red, Victoria Wheat, Hunters Wheat and Golden Drop Red Wheat, with a sample for each year from c1860 to the 1890s. It is an extremely valuable record of cereal growing in our area.

Sussex wagon wheels

In the Spring 2006 Museum Magazine we reported that Tony White of Yapton had given us a fine example of a Sussex wagon. Museum volunteer Adrian Locke carried out repainting and minor repairs to the upper bodywork. However, the wheels were in a poor state, often the case with such wagons, and at various times they had been repaired with varying degrees of skill and success.

As the majority of the wagon was in such good condition we identified it as a vehicle which could be used on site by the Museum’s team of heavy horses, and we are grateful to the Friends of the Museum for funding the construction of new wheels. Using the old wheels as templates and reusing the tyres and metal fittings, wheelwright Douglas Andrews produced a superb set of wheels which we collected in December 2008. We are now in the process of painting them in the same colours as the original set to match the wagon and prolong their working life.

Shepherd's hut loan

From time to time we are able to help other organisations by lending items from our collections, but a request from Naomi Day at Bosham Primary School was for a larger object than usual – a shepherd’s hut. It was to be the focus of a themed week based on Peter Collington’s book A Small Miracle, which is about an impoverished old woman who lives in a shepherd’s hut. She restores a vandalised crèche, and when she falls in the snow, the figures come to life and rescue her. We agreed to lend a shepherd’s hut that was robust enough to move and found that it would fit onto our trailer – but only just! The journey to and from Bosham was extremely slow! However, we delivered the hut safely to a small area of lawn in front of the school. Naomi Day takes up the story. “One of the highlights of the week was Monday lunchtime when the shepherd’s caravan from the story arrived at school; a magical opportunity for the children to sketch, investigate, discover and take part in role play throughout the week. The children’s faces as they knocked on the door to have it answered by the lady from the story were delightful! As they were welcomed inside, they were able to spend a few moments experiencing the hardship she faced whilst having an insight into the simple things she valued in life. The week culminated with a celebration assembly attended by Peter Collington, the author. “A very special hour followed when the children shared with each other the huge variety of work that had come out of the book. Children in the reception class became the nativity characters helping the old woman in the snow, while children in year six created a musical soundtrack to accompany the story. Children in year four created news reports from the scene of the crime, and those in year five wrote a podcast which they aired live!”

Marshall’s living van

The Autumn 2008 Museum Magazine reported the gift of an important contractors’ living van by Peter Tomkins and Ray Turbefield of Chalcroft Nurseries. It requires some significant work to return it to suitable condition for display, including the production of a new set of wheels: all this work can be done at the Museum using our in-house skills.

The South Downs Society (formerly the Society of Sussex Downsmen) has generously agreed to grant aid its repair and conservation. We are most grateful to the society, which has supported the Museum on a number of occasions over the years, most recently with the creation of our sheepfold.

The living van will be displayed in the newly rebuilt Ockley haybarn where it will complement our Marshall’s threshing machine conserved in 2007.

Tea dispenser?

This item, donated to the museum by Alan Menzies, is thought to be a dispenser for tea or tobacco – but could be something completely different! It was certainly used to measure out something in a shop and the manufacturer’s plate shows that it was made by W.M. Still & Sons, a company involved with both tobacco and foodstuffs. Can any of our readers identify it?

‘Joseph Norkett’ roof tile

Have you heard of 'glinters'

Museum Friend and SIAS (Sussex Industrial Archaeological Society) member, Norman Langridge is seeking further information about ‘glinters’, a name given to vertical protective stones placed against the walls and corners of buildings at ground level to protect them from wagon and carriage wheel damage.

His colleague, Ron Martin, came upon the word ‘glinter’ used to describe such stones around the Cross at Chichester and at Kings Cross Station, London. The word does not appear in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), but has been found on two websites.

Interpreting the Museum’s farming exhibit

One of the aims of the farming exhibit is to encourage the use of horses for farm work. Our team of volunteers at the stables are constantly practising and extending their skills in horse work, driving and equine care, but farm manager Chris Baldwin is also developing plans for a ‘Young Persons’ Working Horse Club’. This would help young people learn key horse-work skills from the dedicated but dwindling number of people for whom horse work has been not just a hobby but a profession.

The interpretation of a live farming exhibit is difficult, because by its nature it changes all the time – sometimes slowly while the crops are growing, sometimes quickly when the land is ploughed. We have used static signage to help visitors understand what they are seeing, but now we plan a different approach. A new horse-drawn rides vehicle will be used to transport people around the fields, with a trained volunteer guide explaining what they can see.

Horseman Mark Buxton driving
the new rides vehicle in the autumn

Museum’s schools services in great demand

Workshops run by the Museum’s Schools Services department are in great demand by teachers, who say that, together with their own input to a visit, they can achieve up to a term’s classroom work across the curriculum from one visit.

Last year the Museum delivered more than 1,400 separate workshops with an average of 10 children on each, and a total of approximately 24,000 children visiting in school groups during the year, says the Museum’s Schools Service Manager, Rachel Mercer.

The Museum’s strategic approach of working closely with schools was enriched last year by the Creativity in the Classroom conference attended by almost 150 teachers from Sussex and Hampshire and addressed by Mick Waters of the Qualifications & Curriculum Authority. Several schools which regularly bring children on school visits gave presentations, inspiring other teachers to make unusual requests for workshops. One example was bread-making, to fit in with a food and farming topic, with a visit to Lurgashall Mill to see flour being ground, ensuring that the children understood the whole process. The Museum will host the conference again this year, along with a Citizenship conference.

It is always encouraging to receive bookings from schools that haven’t visited the Museum before, particularly if they emerge from a recommendation by another school. It was this that prompted the deputy head from Isleworth and Syon School in Twickenham to book three visit dates in February. The Museum welcomed some 50 Year 7 students on each day to take part in our popular winter workshop programme.

Packed with hands-on activities, this includes cooking in the Tudor kitchen, a farming tour of the Museum’s farm buildings, machinery and animals; spinning wool and dressing up in replica Tudor clothing, and exploring the symptoms, prevention and cure of diseases in Tudor times. The school hopes to make this an annual trip and we look forward to seeing them again next year!

Fittleworth First School’s oak class performing their
dance for delegates at the Creativity Conference 2008.
The dance was inspired by their reading of Jack and
the Beanstalk and their thoughts about giants.

Timber framing from scratch . . . and its impact

Timber framing from scratch has been a feature of the Museum’s Building Conservation Courses programme since 1997. The brainchild of Richard Harris, then the Museum’s Research Director, it started as a two-week workshop but has been progressively refined into several week-long courses, including a new advanced course to enable people to take their skills further.

The original 15-day long Woodshed workshop, led by Henry Russell, resulted in the construction of a woodshed at the back of Bayleaf farmhouse. The following year it was repeated as a 13-day Woodshed workshop, led by Paul Price. The product of this course was sold and re-built in Ireland. By November 1998, with Joe Thompson as tutor, this practical course had evolved into a seven-day Timber framing from scratch experience, which took its eight participants through all the processes involved in converting oak logs into timber that was then jointed and framed into a structure, in the first case a rather large dog kennel!

The demand for these workshops grew and grew, until four courses were being run in every 12-month period, and Intermediate timber-framing was introduced to enable participants to take their skills further.

The evolution of Timber framing from scratch has continued, and Joe Thompson now runs three different oak-framing workshops, each five-days long: Jowl posts and double-cut scribing (four times a year), Braces, studs and plumb-bob scribing and Rafters and line transfer scribing (twice a year) along with a softwood framing course entitled Square rule timber framing. Students are able to achieve a good grounding in traditional timber framing, using the tools and methods of 17th century carpenters, as well as those used by the timber-framing companies of today. The present structure of the framing courses brings them in line with the framework proposed for the NVQ in Heavy timber-framing which is being developed by the Carpenters’ Fellowship.

Joe Thompson is an inspirational teacher, whose original interest in working with green oak was inspired by the sight of so many oak trees felled by the storm of October 1987. His craftsmanship, passion for oak, engaging communication skills and analytical eye for historical detail combine to make the courses unique and very highly regarded in the timber-framing sector.

From the beginning of Timber framing from scratch the profile of student participants has been very varied: designer/ builders, employees of timber-framing or building conservation companies, self-employed craftspeople, enthusiasts wishing to construct a ‘one-off’ building, and home-owners wanting to know more about or repair their homes. From pilots to surgeons and IT escapees, as well as carpenters wanting to extend their skills, the Museum has welcomed people from all walks of life. Some of their stories are told below.

Roland Horwood

“Five years ago I was working for Land Rover. I’d spent 20 years progressing from lowly engineer to an overpaid, bored, middle manager. I was watching Grand Designs featuring a Carpenter Oak frame and thought ‘that looks like fun, I could do that’. Casting around for ways to experience oak framing I discovered the courses at the Museum. I did the one-day course, swiftly followed by the full week Timber framing from scratch. I had so much fun on these courses, great tuition from Joe Thompson and a real sense of achievement at the end of the week. “

Polly Kerss

“With mixed-up historical kitsch so prevalent in contemporary architecture, I joined the Timber framing from scratch course to learn from the inside-out how building styles developed in the past, and how to repair and extend my own Kent farmhouse in a historically appropriate way. What I hadn't expected was that, by the end of the week, I would feel absolutely confident in my own ability to construct a timber-framed building, having never previously sawn anything but a loaf of bread.  

Neville Squires

Neville lives in Wimbledon and works in Wandsworth Library. He is involved in voluntary woodland work, which led to his interest in historic carpentry. In 1999, without any prior practical experience, he took the plunge and booked his place on Timber framing from scratch. Neville especially remembers the hot July weather – as in those days the course took place in the tent behind the Market Square. Then the course was seven days long and took students through the entire process from converting the timber to erecting the frame.  

Herbert Russell

 “The Timber framing from scratch course and the series of related courses were fundamental in developing a working understanding of the traditional methods used. When engaged in timber framing projects I use these traditional methods.  

“I would humbly suggest that these courses are first among equals, and would without hesitation recommend them to anyone who is thinking of a change of direction in their work life or purely from a point of interest. These courses were the start of an amazing journey; little did I know that nearly five years later I would be studying for an MSc in Timber Building Conservation, at the Museum.”  

Chris Chadwick

“Wary of showing up my schoolboy skills alongside proper woodworkers, I need not have worried because many of us were ‘in the same boat’ and help was always at hand. We learned how easily mistakes are made and that they have all been made before, and part of the craft of the carpenter is to know how to deal with them. The insight gained into the evolution of methods and tools was fascinating as was the converting of timber. Hewing, plumb and level marks, two-foot marks, double cutting of tenon shoulders and draw boring are all very familiar now.  

Nick Mitchell

A carpenter by trade, Nick attended his first Timber framing from scratch course in February 2007. This has rekindled Nick’s thirst for learning, and he went on to undertake the other two courses in the oak framing series, plus Square rule timber framing. He has now completed the Museum’s leadwork courses, and helped to construct the Singleton spire.

Since attending the courses Nick’s work has broadened. He has made a couple of small frames, and is taking on more traditional work. He said: “Attending Joe’s courses made me realise how much I needed to learn! I have now completed City & Guilds Level 2 English and Maths, am currently undertaking a CLAIT computer course, and soon begin an Open University History degree”. Nick hopes to attend more of Joe’s courses – if he can find any spare time – and plans to work in the period building trade after finishing his studies.

Jeremy Allen

New partnership with the University of Chichester

One thing leads to another, and it was our first KTP associate, historian Danae Tankard, who opened up links to the History Department at the University of Chichester when she became a member of the department, teaching a module called ‘History, Heritage and Interpretation’ for the first time this term.

This led to meetings with Dr Robin Baker, the Vice Chancellor, who introduced us to Dr Michael Hitchcock, Deputy Dean for Research and External Relations. Michael has a background in ethnography and a great enthusiasm for and knowledge of open air museums. We agreed that as part of our joint contribution to the Cultural Olympiad in 2012 the Museum and University would collaborate in organising a major global conference about open air museums. It is a particularly appropriate proposition for 2012 because open air museums and the Olympic movement both originated in the 1890s and share many of the same aspirations.

A global conference on open air museums has never been attempted before – so what is it that they all have in common? In the European Association of Open Air Museums we have tried to define this, and found it difficult. Physically they are museums in which buildings are a major part of the exhibits – but a successful definition is more likely be political. To a greater or lesser extent all open air museums celebrate aspects of national, regional and local identity, and many have been important tools in the process of nation building or the resolution of societal conflicts.

Another aspect of the ethnographical work of open air museums is a common interest in traditional performance – music, dance, drama and story-telling. Perhaps alongside the academic conference we could set up a 2012 festival of performance from around the world? These are ambitious ideas, and a global event requires a great deal of hard work and planning, so funding applications are already being formulated. With a little luck our new relationship with the University could produce a remarkable contribution to the Cultural Olympiad.

News in Brief

People - Bob Easson retires.

People - Obituaries

The Museum is sad to report the deaths of four volunteers, who dedicated so much time and energy to the project over many years. They are Ethel Buvyer, Joan Brooks, Doris Nash and Colin Marsh.

Ethel Buvyer, Doris Nash and Joan Brooks were among the earliest volunteers at the museum. Ethel, 88, one of the very first, helped clear vegetation prior to the re-erection of buildings, and worked in the garden at Bayleaf, the shop, ticket sales, car parking and guided tours as well as giving illustrated talks to outside organisations. For many years she was a member of the Friends committee. Joan, 94, was another of the earliest volunteers who undertook duties in the shop, ticket office, car parks, on guided tours and as a building steward, and was also a Friends’ committee member. Both were made life members of the Friends.

Doris, 95, volunteered at the museum together with her husband, Ted, and both gave many years’ service. Colin Marsh was a volunteer miller for several years and represented the Museum at the Corn Millers Guild meetings. Colin’s wife, Irene, is a volunteer in the Winkhurst Tudor kitchen.
 

Rosie - Obituary

Rosie, who gave so much pleasure to thousands of visitors at the Museum, has died at the age of 24.

For many years Rosie (Layston Bluebell) was part of the foursome of working heavy horses at the museum who were used regularly to demonstrate agricultural tasks and carry out jobs of all sorts around the site. She undertook logging and field tasks happily, but never really took to shafts, and frequently demonstrated her preference for calm grazing in the paddock.

Rosie was bred in 1984 by J Russell & Son, Barnsley, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Her sire was Hillmoor Prince Charles (one of the most important Shire sires of recent times) and her dam Layston Heatherbell.

Rosie had been purchased from Angela & Richard Gifford’s West Country farm where they were selling her on behalf of champion ploughman Jack House. She was ideal for the museum’s needs, at just over 17hh not too large, demonstrating the type of farm horse that was found on so many holdings in the horse era.

She had three geldings to boss around for most of her time at the museum, but she really shone, especially as she got older, when present at the stables where she was quietly happy for the public to get up close and personal. Many hundreds of children admired and groomed her safely, under the watchful eye of the staff and volunteer team who cared for and worked the horses.

As a mother she proved almost perfect, producing six foals, one to a pedigree Shire, two to a pedigree Ardennes, two to a pedigree Dales and one to Robert Sampson’s Percheron stallion, Harbridge Trojan. All were born and brought up without fuss, just as Rosie liked it.

Diana Zeuner