9.30am to 5pm

(Please note that the majority of similar courses are in the Historic Building Conservation section.)

The course

With the aid of colour illustrations and diagrams, the morning sessions will focus on how to look analytically at the structure of a church or chapel, so as to understand its development as a building. Period features, such as the shapes of doors and windows, can be added in to suggest the approximate date at which the inevitable changes – both growth and shrinkage – took place. There were also frequent changes to the furnishings and fittings inside a church and these will be briefly considered. In the afternoon two local Anglican churches – Singleton and Stoughton – will be visited, where the theory of the morning sessions will be put into practice. The tutor’s book, Churches and chapels: investigating places of worship, Council for British Archaeology Practical Handbook no.8 (2nd edition, 1998), will serve as the course textbook. It is hoped that copies will be available for purchase on the day. 

The tutor

Until 2001 Dr David Parsons held a full-time post in Adult Education at the University of Leicester, where he was Reader in Church Archaeology. In retirement he is completing a major book on the results of 35 years’ research at the Anglo-Saxon Church of All Saints in Brixworth, Northamptonshire. He moved back to Sussex and began to specialise in the medieval churches of the county, especially in West Sussex. He has recently become Chairman of the Friends of the Sussex Historic Churches Trust and is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Participant information

Please bring note-taking equipment – pen/pencil & notebook, laptop, etc., binoculars (if possible) and a camera.

Fee

£60 per person, to include tuition, teas and coffees. The cafe will be open for lunch or you may prefer to bring a packed lunch.

The Museum

The Weald & Downland Open Air Museum has over 45 historic building exhibits.  It is also home to the award winning and innovative Downland Gridshell, which houses a conservation workshop and artefact store, and is also used for many practical courses.  The Museum runs a full programme of courses in historic building conservation and traditional rural trades and crafts, along with MSc programmes in Building Conservation and Timber Building Conservation validated by Bournemouth University. Please telephone for further details.

To book, download a form here. Alternatively, fill in the booking request below.

Make a Booking Request

 
This is an initial booking request form, and does not guarantee a place on the course. The Adult Learning Team will check the availability of the course, and reply to you as soon as possible - usually within one working day.