Refurbishing the Mouseman doors
The doors of St Boniface required renovation and we enlisted the craftsmanship of Frank Buddy who completed his original apprenticeship as a French Polisher.
The work took approximately eight weeks and we are very pleased with the results.
The original doors were made by the firm Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson of Kilburn, North Yorkshire. Thompson founded the firm in the 1920s when experimenting with his own ideas for producing furniture based on the English styles of the 17th Century.
Robert Thompson used a mouse as his signature and trademark, hence the nickname, carved on every piece of furniture he made. His trademark mouse first appeared around 1920, and was subsequently modified in 1930 to remove the front legs which were prone to breaking off. The mouse is an important identifier in assessing the age of a piece of furniture, as well as the degree of adzing, colour, and patina.
The story told by Robert Thompson himself is that one of his craftsmen remarked that they “We all as poor as church mice”, whereupon Robert carved a mouse on the church screen he was working on. That particular mouse has never been found but it has continued as a trade mark of quality and dedication to craftsman ever since.
Can you find our church’s Mouseman mouse? It is on the right-most set of doors.
Church doors halfway through the polishing process
Church doors during the polishing process
Frank Buddy, French polisher, as he refreshes the church doors
The church's central doors, fully polished
Carved mouse hidden on the church doors