Sewell Nissen Hut 5 6 7

Maidenhead Pavilion Northolt Barn Sewell Nissen Hut 5 6 7

Key Facts Key Facts Key Facts Terrible Times Being a pilot in WWII might seem quite What is it? What is it? What is it? glamorous – relaxing and waiting to do a The Friends’ Centre, where the Friends of A barn for storing hay. An RAF briefing room from World War II – little bit of flying, then going out for a Chiltern Open Air Museum have a shop to This was taken to aeroplane crews would be given their flight raise money for the Museum. It was built as a London and sold as instructions and targets here. The Museum good time on a Saturday night. However, tennis pavilion, for players to change and for horse feed. uses the other end of the hut to store large it was very dangerous, and required skill and courage. People from 15 different watching matches. Later, it was moved to the How old is it? What is artefacts, or old objects. river to become one of a chain of cafés countries flew for Bomber Command, It’s Tudor. Look at the left this? How old is it? owned by the local Jenner family. but for every hundred men who flew, 56 hand door post and you can just It was probably built between World War I died and many more were shot down, How old is it? about see the date 1595 carved into it. and World War II (1918–1939). This is a guess We think it was built in 1926 – ‘April 1926’ was as the windows and door are an older style, wounded or taken prisoner… found on the frame and the pavilion wasn’t Where did it come from? but the type of floor is more recent. Smith’s Farm, in Northolt, Middlesex. This is in on the 1923 Ordnance Survey map, but was the north-west of Greater London. Where did it come from? on the 1932 edition. Its original location is a mystery. It then Curious Features What is it built from? Where did it come from? moved to Sewell Farm near Dunstable and The maps on the walls show local RAF The Georgian House, Maidenhead, Berkshire. A timber frame on a low brick wall. It is was used for storage. covered in wood, although it might not have bases before World War II. Can you see any It was then taken to Riverside Gardens. been like this originally. The roof is made of What is it built from? near where you live? What is it built from? clay tiles. The hut has steel ‘ribs’ on a concrete base. Aeroplanes hanging from the ceiling. A wooden frame is built on these, with sheets It has a clay tile roof and is standing on short Why is it here at the Museum? Plane crews and aircraft spotters had to brick piers. Seats form the sides of the porch. of corrugated iron nailed to it. In the 1980s, the barn was surrounded by be able to tell the difference between Why is it here at the Museum? houses and cut off from the rest of the farm. Why is it here at the Museum? friendly and enemy aircraft by their It was replaced by a newer, bigger building Although it was listed (so laws stopped you Sewell Farm stopped being used as a farm, silhouettes, or outlines. It’s hard! so the Nissen Hut wasn’t needed anymore. but Andrew Jenner, who owned it, wanted it from changing it), it was damaged and set on Today we have computers and mobile to be saved. It took 262 hours to dismantle it fire three times. People were worried it phones, but the typewriter and and bring it to the Museum!’ wouldn’t survive, so the Museum rescued it. telephone were used in the 1940s.

Iron Age MEDIEVALMEDIEVAL MEDIEVALTUDOR MEDIEVALSTUART GEORGIAN VICTORIAN 20th C 800 BC–43 AD dates1066–1485 dates1485–1603 dates1603–1714 1714–1837 1837–1901 1901–1999 6 7 Iron Age Roundhouse Terrible Times 20 Iron Age men and women could be ferocious fighters, armed with shields, spears and swords. To make them sound savage and silly, the Romans described them as naked (winners write history, after all) but they probably weren’t, although they did Thatching the roundhouse paint their bodies with decorative patterns and used lime to roof with wheat straw make their hair super spiky.

What an Iron Age sword Curious Features and shield might look like Find these things around the Iron Age House: Imagine… Wattle fences and a ditch around the house and garden. It’s the end of a long, This keeps your animals in, and wild animals including hard day of work. You’re wolves and bears, out. sitting with your friends A fridge! It’s a hole in the ground, lined with clay and and family around the fire Key Facts Why is it here at the Museum? with a wooden lid. Because it’s under the earth, it keeps as it gets dark outside. A family home from the Iron Age (the time Iron Age Britons didn’t read or write, but their food a bit cooler. farming and building changed what the land Iron Age Britons loved to when people began using iron to make Somewhere to cook bread. The oven is a big clay dome, looked like. We wanted to show how they tell stories, from historic sharper, stronger tools and weapons). and you light a fire inside. When it gets hot, you rake out might have lived, and to test ideas about it tales of fearsome warriors the fire and put your dough in to bake. How old is it? using clues (this is called experimental to myths and legends It shows life from the end of the Iron Age archaeology). And something you can’t see… where does the smoke about ancient gods. 2,000 years ago: around 50AD, when the from the fire go? There is no chimney, so smoke leaks out Romans came to Britain. through the straw roof. This means birds or squirrels won’t Try telling an exciting Living and Working story of your own… Where did it come from? want to chew it. You could also hang meat near the top to smoke, or preserve it, so it would last all through winter. It’s a reconstruction, so it’s the only historic Iron Age Britons belonged to tribes: groups building at the Museum that wasn’t rescued ruled by kings and queens. In the Chilterns, from somewhere else. It was built by the the local tribe was called the Catuvellauni. Museum’s Buildings Team, using evidence This name meant ‘good in battle’, but they from archaeologists. They look for clues in were fantastic farmers. the ground to find out about how people We think children didn’t go to school, used to live. This house is based on the but worked hard to help grow crops and patterns they found from really old houses, vegetables, and look after animals like sheep, like holes from wooden posts and burned cows, pigs and chickens. wood or earth where fires were. They ground wheat into What is it built from? flour to make bread; wove and dyed beautiful Wood, with wattle (thin sticks and branches coloured clothing in weaving in and out). This is then covered stripes and checks, with daub made from a gooey mix of clay, and churned (mixed) mud, straw and dung (cow poo!). The floor is milk to turn it chalk and flint, and the roof thatched with into butter. wheat straw that was specially grown. What is this?

The barn being thatched with long straw

Key Facts Key Facts In medieval times, people grew straw called What is it? ‘maislin’ mix. This was made up of many It was built as a ‘steeping room’ for soaking What is it? varieties because if they planted lots of seeds dirty clothes and bedding in disinfectant. Key Facts A barn for storing food or keeping animals. it was likely that at least some would grow! Later on it was used for storing apples. We think this because the door is at one end What is it? and there are lots of gaps to let air circulate A bottom layer of material, often poor quality How old is it? A baker’s store. Despite the name, it It was built in 1904 for £160. and dry crops. straw, is tied to the roof and a second coat of contained different types of flour rather than good quality straw is pegged on top. How old is it? Where did it come from? grain. The flour was kept in hessian sacks, in compartments called bins. About 500 years old. Leavesden Mental Hospital near Watford, Hertfordshire. Where did it come from? Curious Features How old is it? It was built in the 1820s and hasn’t changed Carters Hill Farm in Arborfield, near Reading. Can you see: What is it built from? Wood on a brick base. The louvres (wooden since! What is it built from? Saw marks on the timbers, and where slats) allowed the air to circulate to dry Where did it come from? A cruck frame: long curved pieces of oak the original wood has been repaired by clothes and preserve apples. There is a hole in The bakery in Vicarage Lane, Wing, in shaped like an ‘A’ to make the walls and roof joining it to newer pieces. one wall where two large metal water tanks Buckinghamshire. at the same time. The frame rests on small A big gap in the gable (triangular section inside the store could be drained. flint walls and the floor is made of chalk and What is it built from? at the top of the end wall, beneath the Why is it here at the Museum? soil. The roof is thatched with straw. roof). We don’t know why this was here! It’s made of wood, covered in tar to protect it. The hospital was going to be knocked down The roof is made of slate and the granary Why is it here at the Museum? Lots of different materials used as the so the Museum rescued the store and created rests on cast iron ‘staddle stones’. These kept In 1977, the Ministry of Agriculture decided it base coat of the thatched roof. Look up an apple orchard the flour dry and made sure rats couldn’t couldn’t be used because of its poor condition. inside the barn and you can see the around it. climb in. colours and textures. These materials Living and Working include heather, wood shavings and Why is it here at the Museum? twigs, marsh grass called ‘shoof’ and Bazeley apples from Miss Joan Harris, the daughter of the last Thatched roofs have been used for thousands mats woven from water reeds. How our orchard baker, was selling her house. She was worried of years. They were particularly good for farms many types of material can you spot? the new owners would get rid of it so they as farmers could grow their own materials. could have a bigger garden.

Iron Age MEDIEVALMEDIEVAL MEDIEVALTUDOR MEDIEVALSTUART GEORGIAN VICTORIAN 20th C 800 BC–43 AD dates1066–1485 dates1485–1603 dates1603–1714 1714–1837 1837–1901 1901–1999 20 21