Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings, Open-air museum in Stoke Heath, England.
Avoncroft Museum is an open-air museum on approximately 19 acres featuring over 30 historic buildings and structures moved here from other locations to prevent demolition. The collection includes a medieval town house, a Victorian church from 1891, and numerous other structures representing different periods of British building traditions.
The museum was founded in 1963 as England's first open-air museum, sparked by the rescue of a timber-framed house from the 15th century in Bromsgrove. This single building prompted the creation of a larger initiative to preserve historic structures from their original locations.
The buildings show how people lived and constructed homes across different centuries, from medieval times through the Victorian era. Visitors experience traditional building methods and architectural styles firsthand while moving through the collection.
The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday and provides guided tours, accessible facilities, and two children's play areas spread across the grounds. Plan time to explore the scattered buildings at a relaxed pace since the site covers a large area.
The site houses the National Telephone Kiosk Collection, which displays the evolution of British communication technology through different generations of phone booths. This collection tells its own story about public infrastructure in Britain.
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