Amberley Museum is located on the site of the former Amberley Chalk Pits in West Sussex. The site was used for lime production until the 1960s and retains many original industrial structures, including lime kilns, workshops, and transport infrastructure. Since opening in 1979 as an industrial heritage centre, the museum has focused on preserving examples of Britain’s 19th and 20th-century working life, with a particular emphasis on transport, communications, and extractive/mining industries.
The lime kilns are listed structures and offer an insight into the entire process of lime extraction, production and transport.
The most notable subterranean feature is a concrete-lined tunnel constructed in 1948 during the site’s operational period. It was originally used to connect to an adjacent quarry but the far end has since collapsed and it is now used as a storage area for locomotives. The tunnel gained wider recognition when it was used, alongside the muesum’s rolling stock, as a filming location in the 1985 James Bond film A View to a Kill, where it served as part of a fictional mine complex in California. The tunnel remains intact and the rolling stock has been left painted in teh colours applied by the film makers.
The museum operates a narrow-gauge railway using restored industrial locomotives, many of which came from former mining and quarry sites. The railway runs around the museum site. Locomotives in the collection include examples from major manufacturers such as Ruston & Hornsby and Simplex. Regular demonstration trains operate during open days, providing insight into the role of internal rail transport in small-scale industrial operations.
Amberley also houses preserved rolling stock from the Post Office Railway, the underground mail transport system that operated beneath central London. The display includes a section of 2 ft gauge track and an electric unit built in 1931 used in daily postal operations.
There are many other exhibitions and collections across a wide range of topics. The site has something of interest for all ages - with lots of interactive exhibits for children - and is a quirky and fun day out.
Further Information: Amberley Museum
