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The Bodger's Camp |
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High Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire, is famous for its furniture industry, particularly chair making. Chair legs and stretchers were prepared by bodgers (a twentieth century term), who set up pole-lathes either in small workshops or in specially constructed huts in the woods surrounding High Wycombe. Occasionally turners can be seen working on the pole lathes and giving demonstrations showing how Windsor chairs were made. Please telephone the Museum for current dates. |
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 Donated by Wycombe District Council Rebuilt in two phases, 1985 - 1987 and 1993 - 1996 |
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Originally built c.1887, in its early days this L-shaped building was an assembly shop for Windsor chairs. The lower storeys are built of brick, while the upper storeys are timber-framed and clad with weatherboarding. The left hand wing housed the works office, pattern shop and drying kiln. The chair assembly shop with a polishing shop on the first floor occupied the other wing. The left-hand side of the factory now houses the remarkable Chesham Woodware Collection, assembled by local craftsman Stuart King, and the right-hand side is home to the Wood End Cafe. |
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A prefabricated wooden hut, believed to date from the First World War. It was moved to St. James Church in Gerrards Cross in the 1930s, where it was used as a Sunday School until March 2006. The building was dismantled, repaired, and re-erected by volunteers. It is now used for artefact conservation. |
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 Haversham Granary in its original location |
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This granary, from Pike's Farm, Haversham in Buckinghamshire, is thought to have been built between 1835 and 1843. The framework consists of hardwood posts & cills, with the remainder in softwood. It was originally supported on 16 staddle stones to ensure good ventilation and to keep out vermin. As the interior was incomplete and there were two other granaries on site, it was decided to convert this granary into much needed public toilets. |
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This mid-nineteenth century building from Hadden Farm, Hadden Hill, near Didcot in Berkshire fulfilled the function of cart and implement store on the ground floor, with a section for grain storage upstairs and access via an external stair at the hipped end. The frame is of elm, sitting on a brick plinth wall. Stone bases to the posts prevented cart wheels from damaging the timbers. The shed is now home to our popular school activity of brick-making. |
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Rebuilt 1987 - 1989 |
 Glory Mill Store in its original location |
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Although not open to the public, Glory Mill Store is an example of a storage building dating from the early part of the twentieth century. It is believed to date from the First World War and has a 1919 penny nailed to one of the rear gable posts. Clad in corrugated iron, the building is 120 feet long and houses a number of historic buildings still waiting to be rebuilt. |
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The round-house design first appeared in Britain around 2500 B.C. and continued in use up to A.D. 200. The Museum's Iron Age House reconstruction, although not based on a specific archaeological excavation, is typical of the style of construction. A house of this size would probably have housed a family unit and the interior depicts a home of A.D. 50. The roof is based on three principal rafters erected as a tripod, with a ring-beam supporting the other rafters. There is no outlet for the smoke, which finds its own way through the thatch. |
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 Arborfield Barn in its original location |
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Originally built c.1500, Arborfield Barn is a fine example of cruck construction, where the four pairs of curved cruck blades transmit the load directly to the ground cills. The cruck blades (the main frame for the barn) were made from single pieces of oak sawn lengthways, giving a pair of identically curved timbers for each of the four pairs of blades. All the timber in the barn, including the wattle walls, is oak. It has a plinth wall of flint and the Museum has recently rethatched the roof using medieval thatching techniques. |
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