What to See in Bromsgrove - Top Sights and Attractions

Museum in Stoke Heath, England. Avoncroft Museum of Historic Buildings is an open-air museum of rescued buildings which have been relocated to its site in Stoke Heath, a district of Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. Founded in 1963 and opened in 1967, the museum was conceived following the dismantling of a 15th-century timber-framed house in Bromsgrove in 1962 to provide a location for its reconstruction. It became England's first open-air museum and, after the St Fagans National Museum of History in Wales, the second in the United Kingdom. This building is known as the medieval 'Town House' today, though it has been known by other names in the past, including the 'Bromsgrove House' and the 'Merchant's House'. It now houses a collection of domestic, industrial, agricultural and other forms of historic building, the majority dismantled and re-erected.

The museum's collection comprises more than 30 buildings and structures which have been relocated from their original sites under threat of demolition, being rebuilt and restored at the museum. This includes a fully functioning windmill and a post WW2 prefab house as used in many towns and cities after the Second World War to provide quick affordable replacements for houses destroyed by bombing. The Arcon V prefabricated house was originally constructed on Moat Lane in Yardley, Birmingham and was transported to the museum in 1981.

Weddings and receptions are frequently held in The New Guesten Hall, a building at the museum which was built to incorporate the preserved timber roof of Guesten Hall, originally built next to Worcester Cathedral for entertaining the Prior's guests. The New Guesten Hall is also used by outside parties for concerts, conferences, exhibitions and meetings. The museum's Victorian church, originally built in 1891 at Bringsty Common, Herefordshire, was opened and re-dedicated in 1996 and services are held there during the museum's open season. The church is also licensed for wedding blessings.

The other exhibits, which span over 700 years of history, include a perry mill from Redditch, a toll house from Little Malvern, a fibreglass spire from Smethwick, an earth closet, a cruck-frame barn and a counting house.^[1]

Theatre in Bromsgrove, England. Artrix is an arts venue in Bromsgrove, England, located on School Drive just outside the town centre. The building was constructed between 2004 and 2005 on a green field site near Heart of Worcestershire College Bromsgrove campus and the Bromsgrove 'Blue Light' centre.

It hosts theatre and dance performances, cinema screenings, live music including touring bands, solo artists, touring theatre and both ballet and contemporary dance. Performance of classical music and comedy from well-known performers to circuit comedians. It also works with local groups and organisations as part of Bromsgrove Arts Alive which provides space for theatre performances, a Pantomime a classical music club, spoken word talks (featuring playwright, novelists, poets and historians) and productions by local dance schools.

Artrix also has a very active learning and engagement department that coordinates many projects including a youth theatre group and projects in the community for all ages and social standing.

The main auditorium has a seating capacity of approximately 301. The seating in both venues can be dismantled to create open spaces for events. Four multipurpose rooms are available for meetings and during productions as dressing rooms. The building also contains a rehearsal room/dance studio on the second floor which since 2013 has been regularly used as a studio theatre in addition to its main house for small scale theatre, music and spoken word with a seated capacity of 90. There is an art gallery on the three floors of the venue.

Both the main house and the studio are soundproofed and are not linked structurally within the building, in order to eliminate sound conduction between the two. There is also a licensed cafe-bar.

At the start of the COVID-19 lockdown the old operating company found itself recovering from the end of a series of large long-term contract hires and a sudden halt to activities and ran-out of operating finance. Due to this, the company wasn't able to operate legally due to its charitable status and was sadly to go into voluntary liquidation. The assets were then purchased by Bromsgrove District Council with the intention to looking at options to re-open the venue once the situation improved. The venue is currently the COVID mass vaccination centre for Bromsgrove. Several groups are looking at options to reopen the venue.^[4]