Happy Winter Solstice everyone! The days are getting longer from today 🌞 #Winter #WinterSolstice

Today is the last day of our 2025 season! Have a marvellously magical Christmas and a fabulously perfect New Year and we'll see you in 2026!

Morning.

We have a throne for Father Christmas! It's very exciting because it's been made from bits of old boat. Note the carefully placed drawer for Santa snacks.

It's National Flake Day in the USA. Not chocolate but snow, apparently. Very disappointing. It's even more disappointing that we're in the South of England where it's just raining. Not even a single, solitary flake.

Love this. So clever!

Did you know that UFOs or Unidentified Aerial Phenomena were gaining such interest at the end of the 19th century that the French Academy of Sciences offered a 100,000 franc prize for anyone communicating with extra-terrestrials. Mars was discounted, as it was felt Marians were too easy 😜

This is a bayonet with its scabbard. Not ours, we hasten to add. However, it appears that we do have one in the collections labelled 'domestic'. A domestic bayonet. We wonder what the alternative is.

It's always good to be in the festive spirit.

#AdoorableThursday We've always liked the door to the tollhouse for the Littlehampton Swing Bridge. Stable door style, with separate top and bottom and those lovely little panes of glass.

We love these. A whole new take on the 'shark eating your feet' slippers.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Is it just us, or does there seem to be an increased number of thefts from museums lately? This is very concerning and should make us question why this might be.

Last night's Cold Moon rising over Amberley.

Rather late to the #ArchiveAdentCalender party, we're joining in with #ChristmasCarol Rudolph and his sleigh are very much part of the Amberley Christmas tradition. They've both had a wash and brush up for this year.

The last day of #Museum30 is #WhyMuseums. Where else can you see and experience items from places, peoples and times other than your own? They don't have to be grand or from thousands of miles away. And yes, these are chamber pots with vintage loo roll. Makes you appreciate modern conveniences.

Today's #Museum30 theme is #Water. We don't know who comes up with these themes but they must have a direct line to a Higher Power as it is very wet here today.

Today's #Museum30 is #Mural. We don't have any murals, so we thought we'd draw your attention to Muriel Y. Ishikawa. An extraordinary woman with 837 patents to her name who works with a huge range of areas about innovating and novel explosions. We're intrigued by the idea of novels exploding?

People are endlessly imaginative and creative. This is going to be Santa's Throne but it's made out of bits of old boat. The back is the transom turned upside down and the arms are made from rudder blades. Can't wait to see it finished!

We had a real think about today's #Museum30 theme of #Achievement and came up with these valves, which enabled the first direct telephone communication with Australia. Wonder if they discussed the cricket scores?

Fun history fact! If you were born in the 12th century, by now you'd be dead.

This is the most stylish pig in a blanket that we've seen for some time.

Although many people remember us as Amberley Chalk Pits Museum, we changed our name many years ago. It's still fascinating when items from our previous incarnations are brought in, such as this pottery bread baker, complete with instructions and original souvenir bag!

Today is World Television Day. What's on television can be a bit controversial, so here is a lovely Pye VO9 from 1953, which could be tuned to... BBC1! No arguing over what to watch in those days.

Finding something for #magic for Day 19 of #Museum30 pushes us towards magical inventions. So here we have John Logie Baird's Televisor. The first machine to transmit a moving picture, as demonstrated by Baird himself in Selfridges!

Today is International Men's Day. So here is a group of our volunteers indulging in inter-group cooperation, a few insults and several cups of coffee. 😍

Archaeologists in shock as fossil of early prototype of Brian the Snail found on beach proves that dinosaurs watched the Magic Roundabout - official.

This is a Sinclair ZX81 from the early 1980s and therefore very much digital stuff that belongs in a museum. We played our first games of Space Invaders on one of these! #Museum30 #digital day 12

Today is National Fancy Rat and Mouse Day. We only have unofficial rodents at Amberley, so here is some old footage of some very baby rats exploring somewhere else!

The wartime motto 'Make Do and Mend' could have been especially for small museums, as we're very good at it! Our ever-resourceful Rail Group have come up with a way to protect the joins in points. A short piece of angled metal can strengthen and protect it from the weather! Only another 41 to go...

George Bruce invented the type-casting machine which produced text letter by letter. This is linotype. This means that you can type a line of text and it selects the matrices which act as a mould to create a whole line of words to be printed. Once used, the typecast can be melted down and reused.

This is nothing to do with us but today is the birthday of both Bram Stoker and Vlad the Impaler, who the character of Dracula is supposed to be based on. Just thought we'd put it out there.

The Print Shop are in the last stages of our exclusive 2026 calendar! This will be the front cover of what will be a limited edition, numbered publication, only available from the Museum shop. We'll let you know when it goes on sale but it will be on a first-come, first-served basis!

OMG YOU PEOPLE I had to work all day!

Days when the Museum is closed to the public are always good for having a wander in lesser-known areas. We went for a walk along the railway track (very carefully). We found some bracket fungus that looked quite suitable for Bonfire Night - black with orange edging - and a very confused primrose.

We get some very weird Stuff in Boxes donated to us. Some things appear from where they were forgotten inside something else. All of these boxes still have the original contents inside them... #Museum30 #Boxes Day 7

A little bricked-up side door in the Arundel Gin Building (where the Plumbers live). It could be for #AdoorableThursday but is actually for #Museum30 #sharing

Here's your reminder to look out for hedgehogs this Bonfire Night. Stacks of logs and leaves look real inviting to hedgehogs searching for places to hibernate. Remember to check your bonfires before lighting them!

Honestly. We all need to read this. The amount of money apparently being spent, which could instead be being invested in our museum services is horrific. Next figures from DCMS/PAS are due in the next month or two. How bad will they be? #Archaeology 🏺 #Torcs #Detecting

#Museum30 and #Signage We're very good at signage. Not just around the site, like here but we also have Paviours. This is the museum of Roadbuilding which also showcases a whole range of road signs!

#Museum30 We're Amberley Museum and Heritage Centre. We have been Amberley Chalk Pits and Amberley Working Museum. We're in a disused chalk quarry on the South Downs. We tell the story of the chalk pits and lime burning and host a wide selection of craft and industrial exhibitions.

It's Halloween! Or Samhain, depending on what you prefer. We're getting ready for our Amberley Fright Night tomorrow, which is causing a lot of excitement. And apprehension. Who knows what will happen?

We felt that this was essential to point out.

Our Wood Spirits of various shapes and sizes are usually found in the Greenwood Village, where they are brought to life. Many are usefully pocket- sized. Just right for this time of year...

He that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, And say, “Tomorrow is St Crispian:” Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say, “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.” 1415 #OTD #Agincourt #HenryV #PlaymobilInfestation

Well, it is Halloween next week.

Waywardens were appointed by the Parish Council to be responsible for the upkeep of roads. They officially existed from 1555 to 1835 when the Highways Act was passed.

It's National Nuts Day! Which leads to the inevitable comments about how common they are around here... However, we do have a selection of natural nuts (this is getting worse...) such as below. Couldn't find any hazelnuts as we have very active squirrels.

Goth Womble

This is one of our Baguley Drewry engines. Some years ago it was hit by a 100-ton train which broke the axle and bent the chassis. You can see the impact point and the bend in the body. It's been restored and repaired and now works perfectly!

This is a Very Old Electric Cooker! It's a Belling and dates from 1919. It has a 'hob' on the top, a plate rack to the side and a dishwarmer underneath. Inside is both the oven and the grill. It's made from sheet steel and is a design taken from WW1 submarines! Built to last...