Mouse

Today's the day .......................to carve

As I said yesterday, we're staying in a very nice pub - in the North Yorkshire village of Kilburn.  One of the village's claim to fame is that it was the home of the furniture-maker, Robert (Mouseman) Thompson (1876 – 1955).  It was here that he set up a business manufacturing oak furniture, which featured a carved mouse on almost every piece.

It is claimed that the mouse motif came about accidentally in 1919 following a conversation about 'being as poor as a church mouse', which took place between Robert Thompson and one of his colleagues during the carving of a cornice for a screen. This chance remark led to him carving a mouse and this remained part of his work from this point onwards.  He was part of the 1920s revival of craftsmanship, inspired by the Arts and Crafts Movement led by William Morris, John Ruskin and Thomas Carlyle. 

There is still a workshop in the village, now being run by his descendants, which includes a showroom and visitors' centre.  You can find his mice in the Parish Church - and quite a few in the bars of our pub ..................