-
Redisplaying the Houfe Memorial Chairs
In a damp cupboard in a little old North Yorkshire church, sat two dusty chairs… In 2015 we received a letter expressing deep concern about the whereabouts of a pair of chairs which had been donated by an ancestor of the letter writer. She had been to Allerton Mauleverer church and not seen the chairs. She wanted to know where they were! In some confusion I set about their discovery. The wooden chairs in question were made and presented to the church by ‘M.E.A. Houfe’, in memory of her mother and father, in 1902. They have beautifully carved backs, with intricate patterns and details of birds. The Houfe memorial…
-
Decorative Wooden Bannister
The staircase at Goddards House was designed by architect Walter Brierly in the Arts and Crafts style. It is wooden and has a highly decorative banister, complete with finials, which, over the one hundred years of use, has accumulated a deep layer of dirt. This grime is the consequence of various hands using the banister for support and dust settling on it. Although the dirt itself is not harming the wood or causing it to deteriorate, on hot days when the sun shines through the window the surface of the banisters becomes very sticky. This is uncomfortable for visitors to the site who touch the banisters and can attract microorganisms…
