It is a museum of social history housed in 500 year old buildings. I was lucky that the day I chose to go was the annual day for free entry and cider pressing by Fergus the horse. The exhibits were varied.
Click on the photo if you want to read the writing.
Gloucester Folk Museum
One of the displays at the entrance
More retro house appliances – fridge and 2 washing machines
More household cleaning aids
The carved wooden dog from a demolished pub. It was found by chance a few years ago.
Jemmy Wood a famous Gloucester identity. See next photo.
Information about Jemmy Wood. The sad story is that a similar thing happened following the death of a Vick great great aunt who left a very sizable estate in Brisbane which was discussed in court 50 years later and long after her heirs had died.
Part of an exhibit on World War 2. The booklet is about identifying bombs. Gas masks were adapted to encourage young children to wear them.
Part of the top floor used to be a pin factory
Painting of how it was
Information about painting and pin manufacture
The forge used in manufacture of pins
Information about pin making processes – more than you’d imagine
Photo of painting showing use of pin heading machine at home
Information about use of pin heading machine
Example of a pin heading machine
Tudor style mattress. One room was partly styled as a Tudor bedroom with the bed being an example of one where the mattress was held up by ropes, which may or may not be the origin of the expression, “good night, sleep tight” .
Fergus the horse having a feed after working
Fergus harnessed and pulling a mill stone which ran over apples crushing them into liquid. Gloucestershire used to be known for its orchards and cider making.
Human powered methods of crushing apples. Visitors were offered a taste of the apple juice and it tasted pretty good.
A double lever cast iron cheese press
The museum included an old fashioned lolly shop and a restful cafe where I had a cuppa. A trio of musicians/singers provided a musical interlude. Morris dancers had been there earlier in the day but I missed them.
The church of St Nicholas opposite the museum. Pretty sure I’ve seen a record or two of Vick births, deaths or marriages in it. It’s possible to visit it by obtaining the key form the museum but I wasn’t up to it by then so I headed back to the hotel.