Discovery Day – The Industrial Railway at Amberley
24 July 2025, 2pm-3.30pm
The opening of the Arun Valley mainline railway at Amberley in 1863 created the opportunity for large scale chalk quarrying and lime burning at Amberley for the first time. From 1869 until the 1960s Pepper & Son Ltd developed chalk pits and lime works on the site now occupied by Amberley Museum.
Join the Curator for this illustrated walking tour exploring the importance and the development of the standard-gauge industrial railway through the site. We will look at historic photographs of the Marshall & Co. and Aveling & Porter steam locomotives and rail wagons, and the Hibberd ‘Planet’ diesel locomotive – to reveal how they were used to transport Pepper & Son’s products.
We will also explore the importance of the River Arun, and the canal cut south of Houghton Bridge, as transport links for enabling the quarrying of the chalk hills along the river.
Finally, this Discovery Day highlights an Amberley Museum volunteer project to reconstruct a section of the industrial railway track serving the De Witt Kilns and build a replica Pepper & Son rail wagon.
A special event celebrating Railway 200.
Discovery Days – exploring a different side of Amberley Museum.
Amberley is famous for its narrow-gauge railway, communications displays and vintage buses, but there are other parts of the museum which are less well-known. Our new programme of Discovery Days give you the chance to discover another side to the museum as part of an afternoon tour and hands on experience. Discovery Days are held monthly covering a range of different themes.
Tickets are £5 per person on top of usual admission charges, with a maximum of 20 places.
Date & Times
24 July 2025, 2pm-3.30pm
Museum Main Season opening times: 10am – 4.30pm
Prices
Tickets are £5 per person on top of usual admission charges, with a maximum of 20 places.
General admission pricing.
Train and bus rides are included for no extra cost.
Extra Information
Amberley Museum is located in the heart of the South Downs National Park. Often referred to as multiple museums in one, the Museum has over 20 exhibition areas.
The Limeburners Cafe will be open for lunches and snacks, ice creams and hot drinks are also available. There are also outdoor picnic areas.
Well behaved dogs on short leads are welcome.
All activities are subject to change.
