Avoncroft Museum still rescues historic buildings when resources allow, and when all options for their retention on their existing site have been exhausted. Our buildings come from across the counties of the West Midlands – Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire and from the urban conurbation of the West Midlands – Birmingham and the Black Country.

We are always interested to hear about when a building is under threat, and although we cannot respond on every occasion, we may be able to undertake a photographic record of the building. If you do hear of a building which you are concerned about, please let us know what the current status of the building is (ownership, any pending or granted planning permissions etc) and provide us with digital photographs if possible.

To help support the Museum to complete these projects please donate to us by visiting our donations page or by contacting the Museum on 01527 831363.

Barn frame from Dordon, North Warwickshire

The Museum has recently been given a partially-restored frame of a box-framed threshing barn dismantled some years ago from near Dordon in North Warwickshire.  Avoncroft has accepted this on the basis that its use, once rebuilt, may be as a visitor facilities, education or storage building, rather than as one of the Museum’s agricultural exhibits.  The barn frame is temporarily stored opposite the Museum’s Showman’s Wagon building.

Former Worcestershire County Cricket Club and Cinderella Shoe Factory Cricket Pavilion

Avoncroft are working with Worcester City Council to investigate the feasibility of rescuing and rebuilding a 19th-century cricket pavilion that was built on the original Worcestershire County Cricket Club ground at Boughton, Worcester.  The pavilion has been derelict for a number of years and but was in use until c2005.

Wisteria Cottage, Sneachill, Worcestershire

Avoncroft dismantled this 18th-century timber-framed cottage after planning permission had been granted for demolition in 2014.  The cottage was originally a typical agricultural workers cottage built with a wooden frame and brick infill, but had been extended around the time the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway opened the first station for Worcester at Spetchley, less than a mile across the fields.  The census returns of the 1870s show the cottage occupied by a Provisions Dealer and Baker, and later Shopkeeper and Master Baker – and evidence was found during dismantling of two bread ovens.  The Museum dismantled this cottage on the basis that it would not be re-erected until after the Nailer’s Cottage project was completed.

Nailer’s Cottage – interior decoration and landscaping

The reconstruction of the exterior of the traditional nailer’s cottage, which was rescued from Birmingham Road in Bromsgrove is now complete. We now aim to raise £50,000 towards the interior decoration and landscaping of the grounds around the cottage.

Airing Court Shelter – landscaping

The Airing Court Shelter from the site of the former Barnsley Hall Hospital in Bromsgrove, which will give us the opportunity to interpret the history of treatment of mental health in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, has now been erected and work is taking place on the landscaping of the area around the exhibit.