On the chair arm you will note a little mouse, now this is the trademark of a woodworking company in Kilburn, North Yorkshire founded by Robert Thompson (1856 to 1955), and in the 1930s was asked by a vicar to carve the cornice of a screen in the church, which he did, but when it came to payment the vicar said that the church was poor as church mice. So henceforth Thompson always carved a little mouse on his furniture and so his company grew. Also it will be noted that he never carved the front legs of the mice because they were likely to be knocked off.
He worked in beautiful seasoned English oak, and his work is very collectible, softly lustred and golden, but having said that it is also very expensive.
We saw the bench on the photo at the top of this view, 5 minutes from the cottage we looked at and the view it looked at over was the valley and of course the moors...
A collection of his saleable work 
In Hubberholme Church in Wharfedale all the pews are mouseman pews.
ReplyDeleteWell maybe when we come down again we will look at the church...
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