| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Whatever happened to Gert and Daisy? / They were two lead sphinxes included in the early days of the Plumbing Exhibition and perhaps had rather tenuous relevance to our subject of traditonal vernacular buildings. They were moved in 1992 and installed in Alnwick garden, as they have an importanty link with Syon House, both estates being owned by the Percy family.
The sphinxes, each weighing a ton and known as the 'Lambeth Ladies' or 'Gert and Daisy' after the war time comdedy duo, are thought to be the ones on the Lace Gate at Syon House, installed by Robert Adam in the 1760's. |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | 2006 - The year in pictures / |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Friends News / Friends' 2007 Spring tour to County Durham 26 April - 1 May |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Friends' News / Gift aid and membership subscriptions
Honorary Treasurer for the Friends
Can you spare some time?
Honorary membership
Contacting the Friends |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | News in brief / The Worshipful Company of Plumbers appraoched the Museum to explore the possibility of erecting a timber spire for use in the teaching of roofing with wooden shingles. This project will be combined with that of accepting a bellframe due to be removed from a Sussex church tower. The necessity for the spire gives us the opportunity to offer courses in polygonal timber framing, with Joe Thompson as tutor. |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Restoration and the Gypsies / The Museum was asked to host the final of Restoration Village on 17 September 2007 and over this weekend we also held our celebration of Gypsy music and culture, Romani Roots.
To accommodate both events, Restoration Village took place in a Globe-like staging area in the Market Square and Romani Roots was centred around Bayleaf Farmhouse, with the field in front proving an excellent location for a circle of wagosn with cooking fires. There was flamenco music workshops in the Downland Gridshell and a new path was specially created with display boards guiding visitors through the thousand year timeline when the Gypsies travelled from India.
The BBC arrived on the Monday to build the set and their work climaxed in the live BBC 2 broadcast at 9pm on Sunday 17 Sept hosted by Gryff Rhys Jones with co-presenters Marianne Suhr and Ptolemy Dean. The audience consisted of 300 buildings supporters, 200 members of the public and a smattering of VIPs. The winning building was Chedham' \\ |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Enjoy the Museum in Winter / Tree Dressing event 3 December 2006 from 12.30pm
Museum's annual carol evening in the House from North Cray 11 December 2006 from 7pm
A Sussex Christmas - 26 December 2006 until 1 January 2007 inclusive - visitors are invited to experience Christmas through the ages with the Museum's domestic dwellings decorated for Christmas. |
| 2006/11 | Magazine / Autumn 2006 | Spring tour to Derbyshire 2006 / The 2006 trip to Derbyshire was organised by Keith and Beryl Bickmore, staying in the spa town of Buxton. Friday saw a visit to Haddon Hall followed by the afternoon exploring the village of Eyam. Saturday morning was at leisure and the afternoon saw a visit to Lea Gardens, Matlock, famous for its rhododendrons and azaleas. Sunday included a visit to Quarry bank Mill on styal Estate, near Manchester. The last full day was spent at Chatsworth House and Gardens, home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire.
The return journey was broken by a stop at Geoff Hamilton's gardens at Barnsdale, used for BBC Gardeners World. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | News in brief / Joan Harding, who died in June 1993, kindly donated a wonderful series of pottery models she produced as a result of her study and recording venacular architecture. She founded the Domestic Buildings Research Group (Surrey). The modesl are to be sited at the top of the stairs in Crawley Hall. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Give you taste buds a treat in May / Annual food fair - Celebrate the Taste - takes place on the Ma Bank Holiday 30 April and 1 May 2006, hosted in partnership with A Taste of Sussex. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Trug workshop moves to the Museum / The Museum was approached in Dec 2005 by Mr Robin Tuppen who had run the long-established trug workshop for the last 25 years. The firm was initially set up by Thomas Smith of Herstmonceaux , East Sussex in the 1820s. Latterly Mr Tuppen had battled to keep the craft alive but as it was no longer comercially viable, he was keen that the contents of the workshop should not be broken up and sold. To this end he contacted the Museum and the workshop arrived just before Christmas 2005. He is hopeful he will be able to demonstrate the art of trug making within the museum. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | "Hidden histories" olans to bring agricultural equipment to life - How the Museum has benefitted form its Designated status. / Support of DCF continues and in years 8/9 we have funding to collect and collate core audience data to link in with the Renaissance in the Regions programme. The second amount of funding under the category "Opening up collections" will allow us to explore the use and maintenance of animal powered agricultural equipment under the project title "Sustainable Power". A series of videos and manuals will be created in collaboration with the Museum of Enhlish Rural Life at Reading, and will deal with a generic type of equipment, and will provide a resource that can be shared with other museums, in-line reference and training. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Knwledge transfer associates appointed / The first associate (history) to be appointed under the KTP (Knowledge Transfer Partnership) Scheme, in conjunction with Reading University, is Danae Tankard. Her remit is to research the social and economic background to our main exhibits so that we will be better equipped to answer our visitors' most common question - what was life like for the people who lived in our houses? |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Hangleton Cottage and its medieval village / The medieval village of Hangleton is situated above the village of Hove about two miles from the sea. The estimated population in the early 14th century was 200. It formed part of the Fishersgate Half Hundred, together with the neighbouring manors of Aldrington and Portslade, situated within the Rape of Lewes. The lords of the manor from 1291 to 1446 were the de Poynings, a Sussex genrty family with lands in Sussex, Kent, Suffolk and Norfolk. The village site was exavated between 1952 and 1954 by Eric Holden and John and Gillian Hurst when plans for additional housing overspill threatened to and did remove all traces of the village for good. In total remains of 12 building groups (20 buildings) were excavated, covering a period of 13th to 15th century.
The Museum's cottage is an amalgam of 2 bulidings because no one house was sufficiently well preserved to allow for
reconstruction on its own evidence. The cottage was built with flint walls to a height that \\ |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | John Hurst and archaeological reconstructions at the Museum / John Hurst, a pioneer of medieval archaeology in Britain and a leading authority on medieval pottery and deserted medieval villages, died in April 1003. He was a great supporter of the fledgling Museum in the 1970s. Along with Eric Holden, he excavated part of the Hangleton deserted medieval village, and their reports are published in Sussex Archaeological Collections part 1 in 1963 by Eric Holden and part 2 in 1964 with John Hurst and his wife Gillian. The article tells the history of the Museum's Archaeological Committee, and mentions the Saxon weaver's sunken hut reconstruction and its removal in 1983. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Sheep folding / Sheep grazing on the site is now taking place with the aid of a moving sheepfold. The hurdles are formed into two adjacent square areas, the sheep graze in one for a few days, then a hurdle in the division is removed to allow them to move from one to the other to graze a new patch. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | New additions to the Collection / A very rare hay press came from Peter Hall of Newdigate Surrey, its origen being Betchworth. Also added is an interesting collection of hop tallies and tokens, which were transferred to our collection from Horsham Museum, these originally having been used in Kent and Sussex. A grain crusher came from Leila Frodsham of Haywards Heath, who found it in an old mill she had purchased. A very sound and complete Sussex wagon came from Tony White of Yapton, West Sussex which may be used as a replacement for our site waggon.
A churn stand was donated by Mr Boam of Fittleworth, West Sussex which was still in its original place outside a farmhouse. The stand has now been restored and situated by the Museum entrance. |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | News in brief / Sustainable Event - 21st May 2006. Special day for schools on 22 May 2006. Includes demonstrations, seminars and a wide range of exhibits of interest to domestic users and professionals.
Celebration of Gypsy culture will be held 15 - 17 Spetember 2006
"Open House" on Mother's Day 26 March 2006, all visitors will be admitted for |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | Museum hubs? Renaissance in the Regions? Designation? Accreditation? What are these? / Museums work within a much more regualted framework than in the past, following a number of government initiatives intended to enhance museum provision.
Renassaince in the Regions is a nationwide project designed to improve standards and increase resources in museums. Museum "Hubs" have been created in each English region and each hub had four or five main partners, always larger museums. The Hub partners are provided with money to undertake various projects, many to do with improving access in all its forms to museums and their collections. They are expected to be centres of excellence and leaders of their regional museum communities, piloting new ideas and providing examples of best practice for wider application, cascading their successful initiatives down to the other "non Hub" museums.
Accreditation is a scheme to ensure that all museums reach a good standard in their security, govenance, care of collections \\ |
| 2006/3 | Magazine / Spring 2006 | News in brief / Gransfors Bruks axe sales have grown in 2005 to well over 1000, with 40 types now available. They were discovered in the USA in 1998 by Richard Harris and first sold to students on timber framing courses. The Museum is now the largest importer in the UK of these Swedish manufactured axes and accessories.
Gordon Rushmer, who runs the Museum's painting and drawing courses and was our Artist in Residence in 2000, is to hold a retrospective exhibition of his work in Crawley Hall from 26 September to 1 October 2006. This year he celebrates his 40th year as an exhibiting painter and will include work from his student days, pieces produced in his role as a war artist and a selection of his tranquil country scenes.
Rare Breeds Show celebrates its 21st anniversary on 23 July 2006 |
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