AVONCROFT MUSEUM OF HISTORIC BUILDINGS, NEAR BROMSGROVE

 I first came across the Avoncroft Museum from the many bricks photographed at the museum which are posted on David Sallery's Penmorfa brick site. So after checking the web for opening times & what else there was to see at the museum, a visit was planed to see their collection of locally made bricks & the many restored buildings.

The museum near Bromsgrove is a mini village containing buildings which have been rescued & faithfully rebuilt in a setting to match their original location. Most of the buildings contain items & tools for which they were originally used for, like the blacksmith's shop & chain shop. All of these buildings were either rescued from the bulldozer or ones which had fell into neglect. 

This is the Counting House which came from Bromsgrove Cattle Market. The Market was opened in 1853 & farmers would come to this building to settle their bills for the purchase or sale of the livestock. The last market took place in 1972.

Threshing Barn from Cholstrey near Leominster. This is where wheat, oats & barley was beaten with a flail to separate the grain from the stalk. The doors were then opened to let the wind blow away the chaff, leaving the grain to be collected off the floor. The straw would be then collected up & stored.

The Museum contains the National collection of public phone boxes, of which there must be at least twenty different kinds. Most of which are working & are connected, so you can call someone in one of the other phone boxes.

No Dr Who in this one !

The children were having a great time running from one box to another to see which were ringing.

Windmill

Toll House

Medieval Town House

After an enjoyable walk around most of the site, seeing most of the buildings, a visit to the tea rooms in the Shrewsbury Co-op was my next port of call. There I enjoyed a nice cup of refreshing tea & a cake before my two hour steady trip back home.

For more information about the Museum, please click on the link.  http://www.avoncroft.org.uk

To see the bricks I photographed at the museum, please click on the link below.
http://uknamedbricks.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/avoncroft-museum-near-bromsgrove.html