The West Somerset Rural Life Museum is a small museum in

Allerford Allerford is a village in the county of Somerset, England, located within Exmoor National Park, and is part of the parish of Selworthy in the district of Somerset West and Taunton. It appears in Domesday Book as "Alresford – forda Ralph d ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England. The building was built in 1821 as the village school and was closed in 1981. It is now rented from the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

. In 1983 it was opened as a museum, by a charitable trust, with displays of artefacts from

West Somerset West Somerset was a local government district in the English county of Somerset. The council covered a largely rural area, with a population of 34,900 in an area of ; it was the least populous non- unitary district in England. According to f ...

including cookery, laundry, tradesmen's tools, and agricultural equipment. One room in the

thatched Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge (''Cladium mariscus''), rushes, heather, or palm branches, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof. Since the bulk of ...

part of the building has been retained as a Victorian classroom, where children can dress in original clothing, sit at original desks and do writing on slates. The other rooms contain domestic and farm equipment. There is also a photographic archive and outdoor display area. Occasional demonstrations of local crafts are also hosted at the museum.

References

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External links

Allerford Museum: Home of The West Somerset Rural Life Museum, The Victorian Schoolroom, and The West Somerset Photographic Archive
West Somerset Museums in Somerset Rural history museums in England History of Somerset Local museums in Somerset National Trust properties in Somerset Thatched buildings in Somerset