Medieval house reassembled at Chichester museum

Volunteers are being called on to help reassemble a medieval house at the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum this summer.

The 15th century aisled house came from the small village of Sole Street, near Canterbury in Kent, and was last occupied in 1967.

So far, the elm frame has been completed and panels wattled and volunteers are being sought to help with daubing.

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Project director, Richard Pailthorpe, said: “This is a significant and exciting moment to see the timbers rise from the ground. “Over the summer months our visitors can watch the building as it is gradually completed with its tiled roof and wattle and daub walls”.

Once the roof has been tiled, the internal carpentry will be added and the wattle panels daubed. The building should be complete by the end of the year.

The earliest part of the house is thought to date from circa 1350 to circa 1425.

It was dismantled in 1970 and first re-erected at the Museum between 1989 and 1990.

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The house was carefully dismantled for the second time in 2015 to make way for the museum’s Heritage Lottery funded new visitor entrance and facilities, known as the Gateway Project.

Museum carpenter-in-residence Joe Thompson surveyed and conserved the frame, supported by his Heritage Lottery Funded trainees, Claire Vidler and Richard Toogood, plus Cameron Page, whose traineeship has been funded by Seward Properties Ltd.

Volunteers who are interested in helping with daubing during August and September can contact the museum office on 01243 811363 or email [email protected].

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