Amberley Working Museum is a slightly confused sort of place. It doesn't seem to be quite sure if it is a professional (albeit charitable) industrial museum, or the home to a lot of well meaning amateurs all doing their own thing.
The Kilns
It started life as the Amberley Chalkpits Museum but changed its title as, understandably not a lot of people wanted to look at a chalkpit.
However, the remains of Pepper & Co's industrial buildings (particularly the De Witt Kilns) are fascinating in there own right. You often come across old limekilns (such as those at Beadnell) scattered around the country, but here the whole thing is on a different scale.
Somewhere along the line, the museum seems to have lost sight of the importance of these kilns and the site in general, and got side-tracked by other things. However that may soon be rectified if the current application for Heritage Lottery money goes through.
Elsewhere the site is an uneasy mix of very smart sponsored exhibits (such as BT's Connected Earth building and the EDF Energy Electricity Hall), the engagingly eccentric History of Concrete and general piles of old bits and pieces awaiting restoration/exhibition.
Check the Amberley Working Museum's website for opening times etc.
External Links and References
External Links
- Amberley Working Museum
Much improved site, but still with a fondness for getting you to download .pdf versions of the corporate speak leaflets. All the information is there if you can put up with the long downloads. - Amberley Museum's Southdown Bus Garage Project
Private Site with information on all the buses at Amberley. Nice simple HTML. - The Amberley Museum Industrial Railway Collection
Sister site to the above with details of all the engines at Amberley. Difficult to find your way in: Click "Now click here for pictures of ..." at the bottom of the page. - Amberley Working Museum
Wikipedia article
- Amberley Working Museum
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