Weald and Downland (1)
The Weald and Downland Museum is a showcase of old English buildings. The exhibits are all genuine period pieces which were moved from their original locations and rebuilt on the museum's land. Some of the farm buildings were simply ruinous and in dire need of tender loving care, but the houses were all "listed buildings" which, nevertheless, had to be demolished to make room for new roads or other modern development.
This photograph shows Pendean Farmhouse, a 16th century timber-framed building which originally stood in East Sussex. Naturally, enough, over the course of 400 years it had been altered and adapted, with extensions here and new windows there, so that it bore little resemblance to the house which its first owner knew. When a gravel mining company applied to demolish the building they were given permission on one condition: the house must be carefully dismantled and transported to the museum. Here it was re-erected in its original form, without any of the modern features .
The Weald and Downland Museum is at Singleton, near Chichester, in the county of West Sussex (England).