Home sought for old fire engines in Norfolk

The museum's collection begins with horse-drawn appliances

A museum is looking for a new location to house its collection of vintage fire engines.

The Norfolk Fire Museum currently looks after about 20 historical appliances at the former RAF Coltishall site north of Norwich.

However, the building, constructed as a bomb dump, has been condemned and the museum must move out by 30 June.

Trustee Colin Farrington has appealed for anyone with a potential new space to get in touch.

The museum has been at the site - which is now an enterprise park - for seven years.

The museum has about 20 fire engines

As well as historical photographs of the county's fire service in action, it has a collection of restored appliances, with the earliest being horse-drawn engines from the mid-1800s.

Mr Farrington said the museum needs a space of about 2,000-3,000 sq ft (186-278 sq m).

"We were set up to educate and preserve the history of firefighting in Norfolk - looking to work in the community to educate the public about the dangers of fire and water safety, as well as showing all the equipment of the past and how we used to do it," he said.

He said: "We're looking for agricultural buildings, where farmers have perhaps pulled out part of their operation, a building sitting there empty or that's been replaced with a more modern building. Or an old grain store or cow shed. Something like that, watertight and secure and sitting empty that could help us out."

The museum would ideally like to stay in central Norfolk but for the right building they would move anywhere in the county, Mr Farringdon said.