Amberley Museum - three decades of change

Photos by Dave Parker

Photos from Amberley museum taken from 1987; how many of the places do you still recognise?.

This is the site of the restaurant.

To the left was the boat builder and in front (left), the old cafe, more recently connected to the education centre.

The old cafe

The cafe decorated for a Santa event at Christmas.

Appropriate weather for the "Santa" event!

This was taken at the top of the hill - the "friends' centre" portacabin now occupies the spot to the left of this shot. Incidentally the portacabin was donated by Seeboard (now EDF Energy) - I actually worked in it at the Portland Road site (Portslade) while the building was being renovated in 1992.

From the top of the bus - the trees to the left are now the location of the restaurant.

The bridge over the railway awaiting repair.

The next four photos show the early work renovating the old railway line to the Kilns - work has progressed steadily and this area looks very different today.

Two views of the site to become Amberley Fire Station!

A view of the brick-a-brack in it's early days run then on Sundays by Daphne Parker.

Not so much change in this view.

The railway building nearly complete.

Five shots of the new "TATHS" building (history of tools) under construction.

A timeless shot of the museum with the Leyland Southdown bus and the new restaurant being constructed to the right.

Another view of the site of the restaurant (from the village green).

The railway originally had two stations at "Amberley" and "Brockham"; this view shows the line being extended at the far end of the site towards what will become "Cragside".

Groundwork being prepared before further track can be laid.

This aerial view is of what will become the railway engine building.

Another aerial view from the "far end"; note the course of the old road before construction of the Telecomms Exhibit which will be build in the foreground area where the trees are.

Seeboard's Milne museum with the "transformer garden"; Cragside railway station now occupies the site to the top of this shot.

The White Pit and re-building the bus garage from Storrington.

The foreground of this shot is now the restaurant.

The roof of the kilns prior to renovation with a contribution from the lottery fund.

The kilns again prior to renovation.

This view pre-dates the Railway Exhibition building.

Another view of the old Cafe.

The front of the railway exhibition building nearing completion.

Track work continues towards Cragside...

And looking back towards Brockham.

This is a view of the rear of what is now the railway exhibition.

Approaching Cragside - all we need are the tracks!

At Brockham station looking east.

Brockham station on a cold, early Spring day - through the branches you can see the railway exhibition is still to be built.

The woodland walk with a nature exhibit under construction in March 2000.

This is taken in front of what is now the railway exhibition; the bulldozer sits where the new road was cut (the existing road runs from the left of shot). To the left of the bulldozer will be the new BT telecomms building.

Another view of the bushes where the road now runs.

The telecomms building will be built here.

The telecomms building will be to the left and the railway exhibition top right.

Bus day - Maidstone and District bus BKT821C emerges from the sharp turn in the old road that ran beside the engine shed - this is now the turning section of Cragside station.

This is now the approach to Cragside station.

Looking back, the track-laying approaches Cragside.

Another view before the telecomms building.

This view was taken in front of the Seeboard electricity exhibition. The engine shed is still there but cannot be seen from this point now as the telecomms exhibit stands in the way.

"Tramocar" passes what will become the Fire Station.

Opening of the engine shed at Brockham.

"Polar Bear" presides at the opening ceremony.

The late and much missed Howard Stenning (then director of the museum) rides on "Peter".

This shot shows construction of the path to the restaurant. This path ends in brick work on the tight turning circle on the bus route; drivers now have a tricky job getting the longer buses round this bend and not all succeed! The bricks were awaiting repair in April 2015.

This is the site of the Fire Station.

Constructing the BT telecomms building.

While building the telecomms building, a new road was required (under construction here).

The engine shed with the old loop road to the right (the loop was driven anti-clockwise then) and the new road to the left (now part of the clockwise loop).

Off-season construction.

The new road and telecomms hall under construction.

This view of the construction was in front of what would now be the Railway Exhibition.

Not sure why this hole was dug in front of the telephone exchange. Incidentally this exchange still operates the dozens of lines which go to nearly all buildings on the site.

This view is from the public footpath outside the museum and is looking west down the line from Brockham.

Concrete was laid as the foundation of the new restaurant - from memory it remained concrete for a few years while funds were found to complete the building.

By April 2002 the new road and telecomms building were complete.

Still in April 2002 the interior of the telecomms building is being painted.

The interior was designed to look bright and spacious - an artist is seen here painting clouds on the ceiling of the building.

A month later in May 2002 the ex-Storrington garage shell is nearly complete, awaiting its brick work.

Two stalwart volunteers who have seen it all in the past are clearly perplexed by something!

This aerial view shows the "far end" of the museum site with the railway exhibition still to be built.

This is the newly-built railway track approaching Cragside. A new engine shed is being constructed beside the line.

This is a very old shot. The Leyland bus is passing the old TATHS building and the site of the fire station.

This aerial view shows the path of the old road to the right of the engine shed.

The De Wilt kilns before repair.

A general view of the "far end" railway area and "triangle" of track work.

The Leyland Southdown bus passes to the right of the engine shed. Note the storage cabin on the site of what is now Cragside station.

The telecomms hall nears completion.

The old kilns again in need of some TLC (which will be forthcoming)!

This is the site where the "Fairmile" cafe (on the A27) will be re-located.

This view of the railway area dates from last century!

A view of the standard gauge track being re-laid (this road was once the track from the kilns to main-line Amberley).

This was the original road building display situated near the current site of the fire station.

Near the pottery.

The fire station is under construction here.

Four views of the concrete plinth at the site of the new restaurant.

This lovely old sign was at the site of where the path is now cut through to the new kiln path. The sign has, I believe, been restored.

This was the old cafe - it looked great with the lovely old enamel signs and had a fantastic atmosphere - and long queues at busy times.

This lovely British scene with the bus just leaving shot to the right.

This shot of the bus approaching the garage is now very different with lots of new building; the old AA sign is not here any longer (probably now part of the road building exhibition in the White Pit).