Weald and Downland Museum

 I'm back with another post about my 2023 travels in England, and this time I thought I would share the Weald and Downland Living Museum. This place first came onto my radar during the pandemic, when I watched Tudor Monastery Farm, and I knew I had to put it high on my list for when I was able to return to England.

This is a living history museum with buildings gathered from different places and eras of history (and in some cases reconstructed), and it particularly gives a sense of what rural life was like during those eras of history. In addition to vernacular architecture of various eras, they also demonstrate many different trades. I feel like the pictures paint a thousand words here, though, so I am mostly going to let them do the talking!

The striking market square

Market square from another angle with a jettied building in the foreground

One of the market shop spaces

 

 

One of my favorite buildings, a Regency-era toll gate

The toll list!

15th century medieval house

Medieval house interior

Mid-17th century cottage

 

 

15th century farmhouse

 

 

Hall including mid-floor hearth of 15th century farmhouse

Victorian bakehouse with some delicious fresh bread!

 

 

1807 Cottage orné ornamental dairy taken from the Eastwick Park estate

Interior of ornamental dairy
 

 

Recreated Anglo-Saxon hall

Interior of Anglo-Saxon hall
 

Central hearth of Pendean farmhouse

I've shared just a fraction of the amazing details of this place! I found it a tremendously inspiring place for me as an author. I've visited many country houses and I'm sure will visit many more in the future, but there are fewer places like this dedicated to more middle and lower class domestic architecture and life, and I like to spend time in places these characters would have inhabited. I was particularly keen to see the Anglo-Saxon house, as I have a thought (at some point in the probably very distant future) of doing Pride and Prejudice retellings set farther back in the past rather than in the Regency or later time periods, and I want to start with the Norman Conquest.

I'll leave you with two videos, one inside one of the medieval houses, and the other a lengthy walkthrough of the site. I suspect this won't be the last you see of photos from the museum, though, as I'm sure I'll be drawing on them to illustrate topics in the future.