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Most people see the medieval period as an era of unsophisticated squalor, but it was in reality a period of great creativity and development. During the period many of the basic technologies which underpinned the renaissance and later the industrial revolution were first developed, while at the same time innovations from Roman times were rediscovered and refined. Some of them are so fundamental today that we hardly realise they were once major technological advances.

By giving people a hands-on opportunity to explore these technologies first-hand the exhibition is intended to give people an insight into the roots of modern technology and allow them to better appreciate the inventiveness of our ancestors. It will also help them gain a better understanding of history by letting people explore medieval innovations and get an idea of how these would have affected peoples lives in the period and after. This means the exhibition need not limit its audience to people visiting science centres and similar institutions, it will make an equally valid contribution to history-based museums, historic buildings and visitor attractions.

Medieval Machines consists of 15 stand-alone hands-on exhibits relating to medieval innovations. They all allow people to explore the operation of these innovations in an enquiring and creative way. The exhibition comes with graphic panels and an audio system playing appropriate music.

Trip Hammer - Users turn a wheel to rotate a drum with cams mounted on it. These push down the end of a beam then release it, raising and lowering a hammer which pounds on a small anvil.

Water Wheel - Users control the flow of water from a 'Millpond' onto an undershot waterwheel by means of a sluice gate.

Windmill - Users can move a fan to change wind direction and rotate a post mill to optimise its position in relation to the wind.

Siege Engine - Users can build a castle wall out of wooden blocks, then attack it with a small siege engine firing 'rocks' to see if they can demolish it.

The Knight - Children can sit on a rocking horse and try and hold a lance with and without using the stirrups while rocking. It is far harder to hold a lance without the stirrups to brace you than it is with them.

Stained Glass - This is an illuminated jigsaw allowing users to construct a replica of a window in York Minster. It shows the fifth day of creation when God created the birds and fishes.

Arch - This is a tabletop model of an arch which can be built up from wooden blocks.

Flying Buttress - This is a flexible arch which users can try and collapse by pushing down on the top. They can then put a flying buttress against it and see how much stronger this makes the arch.

Wooden Bridge - Users have to try and bridge the river using logs which are in themselves too short to cross the gap.

The Compass - A compass mounted on a model medieval ship is used to navigate it from London to Norway and to find the directions to Amsterdam and Hamburg.

The Loom - Users can weave wool on this small loom in exactly the same way as medieval weavers.

Printing Press - Users can make simple words with letters provided, place them in racks, ink them and then print them using a simple press.

Clock - Users can assemble the cogs and hands of a simple skeleton clock and set it going.

Tiling - A table with three squares on for creating medieval tiling patterns using triangular tiles.

Inventions and Borrowings - This is a table with models or examples of some of the key inventions of the period not shown elsewhere on it. This is a table with models or examples of some of the key inventions of the period not shown elsewhere. These are: spectacles, a silvered mirror, the hourglass, the wheelbarrow, chain mail and the cannon.