Amberley Working Museum

Amberley Working Museum has been created on the site of an important 19th century limeworks on the South Downs, with some of the original buildings being incorporated into the complex. Concentrating on how industry has affected the lives of people in the South East of England over the last 150 years, Amberley Working Museum provides a fascinating mix of old and new ideas, traditional crafts and modern skills.

Chalk quarrying first began here in the 1840s and, by the turn of the century, the Pepper family were running one of the largest limeworks in the region. Success enabled the Peppers to diversify into building materials, and several late 19th century structures on the site include the concrete roof tiles manufactured on site. Operations ceased during the 1960s but some of the kilns and pits are still very much in evidence. The Weald is also rich in clay, and the history of Sussex pottery takes its rightful place in the Amberley Working Museum. Today pots are still produced in the traditional way by a group of resident potters, as are some fine clay pipes.

Perhaps the most readily available of all the natural resources of the area is wood and, because of its versatility, it has played an important role in the developing industries. It was used widely in the construction industry, and to make furniture, it provided the strong timbers for shipbuilding, and it made an excellent source of fuel to power the furnaces. One of the oldest buildings at Amberley Working Museum is a timber barn, now utilised as a boat-building workshop.

Other exhibits include a wide range of transportation, from the Penny Farthing bicycle to trams, buses, lorries, and several locomotives. Visitors are able to experience a ride on one of the buses, or journey up a short length of track in an old railway coach. Communications, domestic and commercial services, and a host of small craft workshops all have a place within this time capsule of 'working Britain'. There is even a nature trail hidden within all this industrial history, where butterflies and wild flowers flourish out of the chalky wastelands.

Amberley Working Museum has been gradually developed over the last 25 years, and continues to thrive with new projects in the pipeline. It will appeal to all age groups. Grandparents can enjoy a nostalgic trip down 'memory lane', children can grapple with the weird and wonderfully old-fashioned way that past generations used to live, and the present-day generation can be thankful (mostly) for 20th century technological advances that have made their lives less arduous.