Chiltern Open Air Museum
 Mission House from Henton and Cottage from Leagrave |
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| place | Buckinghamshire , England |
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open air museum
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The Chiltern Open Air Museum is an open-air museum with regional buildings from the Chilterns that have been transferred to the museum . It is located between Chalfont St. Peter and Chalfont St. Giles 37 km NNW of London, near the Chiltern Hills , in Buckinghamshire , England .
The museum's area of responsibility
The museum was founded in 1976. The aim of the museum is to save buildings that could not be preserved in their original location. The more than 30 buildings from different historical epochs were rebuilt on the 18 hectare museum site. These are not only residential houses, but also stables, barns, prayer houses, customs stations, a reconstructed house from the Iron Age, etc. The museum grounds currently include not only 30 buildings, but also forest and pasture for the museum animals as well as a forest and sculpture trail .
The museum holds a major event almost every weekend from late March to late October. The spectrum ranges from re-enactment workshops to handicraft techniques, information and demonstrations with horses and sheep to military exercises from Romans to almost the present day.
The sponsor of the Chiltern Open Air Museum is a non-profit organization (registered charity). It employs a few full-time employees and around 200 volunteers.
Worth seeing
building
Particularly noteworthy buildings are:
- The reconstruction of an Iron Age house.
- The grand country house from Astleham.
- A Victorian homestead inhabited by sheep and goats of local breeds.
- A High Wycombe furniture factory built in 1887.
- A Victorian Customs House from High Wycombe .
- A tin chapel, a small chapel, made of prefabricated parts with iron cladding, made of henton ,
- A parsonage from Thame, which was built in 1896 from prefabricated parts that were transported by train.
- The Vicarage Room. The pastor at the time had it built as a parish hall in the garden of the rectory, as the church had no premises for religious instruction or other church events.
- A forge from Garston with full interior.
- Several barns, the oldest with components from the 16th century. The construction of the crutch on the roof of the barn in Arborfield is particularly interesting.
- The 18th century semi-detached house off Compton Avenue in Leagrave , Luton . It was originally a clapboard and thatched barn with double doors in the middle. In the late 18th century the barn was converted into a farm workers' house.
- A post-war precast barrack originally from Amersham . In the first post-war years, the so-called prefabs were made from prefabricated parts as social housing by order of the government and according to their regulations and were erected all over Great Britain in order to remedy the great housing shortage. The tenants were thrilled to be allocated a modern single-family house with its own garden and all the comforts (central heating, toilet in the house, constantly hot water, built-in cupboards, built-in kitchen with fridge and laundry boiler). They called their houses Little Palaces - no barracks!
- Various granaries and a store for apples.
- Lots of small buildings, from the toilet to the telephone booth and the tennis pavilion to the shepherd's cart.
The museum has 16 other buildings that are in storage and awaiting rebuilding. Funding for the erection and maintenance of the many different building types is difficult as it does not receive permanent public subsidies.
Animals
The museum houses farm animals such as cows, sheep, chickens and goats from breeds from the Chilterns and their surroundings, some of which are threatened with extinction. Particularly noteworthy is the Oxford Down Sheep: Down sheep (Oxford Down Sheep) used to be very common because they were tall, stocky and gave good wool. Today it is no longer worth breeding them. The reason is the lower demand for wool and the associated drop in prices. Sheep are now mainly bred for their meat and therefore other breeds are preferred. For this reason, the Down sheep are registered in the official Rare Breeds List . The museum's chickens, the “Silver Gray Dorkings”, are also on this list.
Forest and sculpture trail
A forest path leads through pastures and deciduous forests with very old trees. In the spring the blue bells ( Atlantic hare bells ) brew there . There are sculptures made of wood along the forest path. The sculptures are the result of a project by students from a neighboring furniture college, who several years ago were given the task of choosing locations for seating and making suitable seats for them.
Events and media
During the season from April to October there is an event at least every weekend. The thematically wide spectrum ranges from handicraft and handicraft workshops to family programs and cold-blooded horses to cooking and gardening courses. A special highlight are the reenactment days, which cover topics from the Celtic era to the Second World War.
In addition to many films and film scenes, a number of episodes and many scenes of the long-running Horrible Histories in the CBBC ( BBC children's program ) were filmed in the Chiltern Open Air Museum
See also
List of European open air museums
literature
- Chiltern Open Air Museum . Chalfont St Giles 2008.
Web links
- A dozen images from COAM
- Museum website (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Annual program of the museum. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on August 27, 2011 ; Retrieved August 18, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Some of these episodes, all or most of which were recorded here: Horrible Histories - Dick Turpin - Highwayman Song - Sing Along! Retrieved August 18, 2011 . Horrible Histories - Boudicca. Retrieved August 18, 2011 . Horrible Histories - The World War Two Girls Song. Retrieved August 18, 2011 . Horrible Histories Celtic Boast Battle song (rap). Retrieved August 18, 2011 . Horrible Histories - It's not true! Retrieved August 18, 2011 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 38 ′ 11 " N , 0 ° 32 ′ 29" W.