Historic buildings to visit in the British Isles
Click the logos for details of hundreds of historic buildings in the UK and Ireland open to the public. European Heritage Days in September each year provide a chance to see historic buildings free, including some not usually open to the public
Building museums
Auchindrain Museum, by Inveraray, Argyll, Scotland PA32 8XN
Auchindrain is the only communal-tenancy West Highland farming township to have survived in much of its original form. The buildings have been restored and are furnished in period styles to convey the life of the Highlands in past centuries.
Avoncroft Museum of Buildings, Bromsgrove, Hereford and Worcester
Over 20 historic buildings, including a windmill, have been dismantled and re-erected on the site.
Beamish Open Air Museum, Beamish, County Durham, DH9 0RG
Beamish has rescued and re-built historic buildings from the north of England on a 300-acre site that already contained Pockerley Manor House, Home Farm and the Drift Mine. All the buildings are displayed as they would have been either c.1825 or c.1913. A highlight is the recreation of a typical market town street of the early 1900s, complete with trams.
The Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail at the University of Greenwich
A comprehensive collection of over 7,000 architectural details from the last five centuries - windows, doors, fanlights, staircase sections, bootscrapers, rainwater heads and wooden mouldings. To visit the display gallery and open access stores contact the Keeper, Julie Wakefield (tel: 0181 331 9897).
The Building of Bath Museum The Huntingdon Chapel, The Vineyards, Bath BA1 5NA
Reveals the story behind the development of the Georgian city. Displays explain how the buildings of this world heritage site were designed, built, decorated, and lived in during the 18th century. Exhibits include full-size reconstructions, artefacts, tools and a series of models. The Sainsbury Study Gallery is an information centre available to anyone interested in conducting research on architectural history and conservation. Admission to the study gallery is free but by prior appointment only.
Burwell Museum of Fen-Edge Village Life, Burwell, Cambridgeshire
A restored windmill has been used as a focus for a collection of reconstructed buildings from elsewhere in the area. Displays include a building site with local building materials and old plumbing and carpentry tools.
The Chiltern Open Air Museum, Chalfont St Giles, Bucks. HP8 4AD
Rescues
and re-erects historic buildings from medieval to modern.
16th/17th-century cottage, 19th-century agricultural buildings, forge
and tollhouse, 19th and 20th-century prefabricated buildings.
The Museum of East Anglian Life, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 1DL
St Osyth's Priory, Essex, owned the manor of Stowmarket and built the 13th-century barn which forms the centrepiece of this open air museum. Other vernacular buildings have been rescued and moved to the site, including a mid-14th-century timber-framed farmhouse, an 18th-century watermill and blacksmith's forge, and a late 19th-century nonconformist chapel of the 'tin tabernacle' type.
National History Museum of Wales, St Fagans, Cardiff, South Gamorgan CF5 6XB, Wales
In the grounds of St Fagans Castle, a late 16th-century manor house, are over 30 buildings moved from various parts of Wales and re-erected, including the medieval church of St Teilo, a school, a chapel, a Workmen's Institute and several workshops. The library has a large collection of photographs, including those of buildings in Wales.
Ryedale Folk Museum, Hutton-le-Hole North Yorkshire YO6 6UA
Seventeen buildings on a three-acre site include 16th-century Harome Manor House - one of the largest examples of cruck construction in Northern England.
The Somerset Brick and Tile Museum East Quay, Bridgwater, Somerset
The last surviving kiln at the former Barham Brother's yard.
The Weald and Downland Open Air Museum, Singleton, Chichester, West Sussex, PO18 0EU
Over 40 historic buildings from south east England which have been rescued from destruction, dismantled and reconstructed on the site, including a timber-framed farmhouse from Kent, a market hall from Hampshire, a Victorian school, a medieval shop, carpenter's, plumber's and brickmaker's workshops, barns, a granary and a tread wheel from the South Downs.
The Welsh Slate Museum, Llanberis, Gwynedd, Wales
Displays techniques of roofing slate preparation. Has a waterwheel, workshops, forges and foundry.