Tables

Arriving at our cottage at Brading last week, we were pleased to find that the table provided was identical to our own dining table; finest G-plan. Not only the table but also the chairs, which we do not have - although we do know somebody who does.

We have yet to test whether the fold-out extension provided for festal occasions still works.

The company is still alive at reference 1, but while they offer various heritage items, as far as I can see they don't do this one any more.

A bit later on, off to the Bugle, a place we have made a fair amount of use of over the years, to find that it had shut down. It is an old building with a lot of space outside, so there will no doubt be a long tussle with the planning-heritage people about what to do with the site. Maybe a developer with a sense of humour and deep pockets will propose tasteful blocks of affordable flats. The pub opposite, the Dark Horse when we first knew it, snapped above, has been shuttered for years, although there is now talk of returning it to residential use, where it started, many years ago.

So we tried the Rectory Mansions next door, an even older building, which has also traded under various names over the years. Kitchens closed, described as being in hibernation, although drinks were available. And there were some interesting tables here too. The one above, for example, had unusual trim to its sides.

Then this one, with an unusual iron chassis underneath. I thought probably rather heavy, but practical in other ways.

We settled for fish and chips, from Brothers down the road, opposite the bull (baiting) ring. Taken outside in a small public garden which might have been put there for the purpose. The best fish and chips we have had for a while - with fish which had not passed through a freezer and chips which had not come out of a packet.

The rather large steak and kidney puddings that we had taken in the past had been discontinued. A trail to same starts at reference 2.

Back home, we wondered about the floor boards of our cottage, of a width which has not been current for a long time; maybe even original. But then it seems odd that a building which was, we are told, once the village slaughterhouse, would have a wooden floor. One would have thought cement, or at least stone flags, would be more appropriate.

Map included for scale, but since snapping, we have acquired a tape measure and the boards are 8½ inches wide.

According to Gemini a size which has not been in regular use for 200 years. And he agrees that a wooden floor is a bit odd for a slaughterhouse. He suggests various things to look for, which might say more about what the building was used for.

Maybe we need to catch the village history centre, yet another very old building, next to the church, when it is open.

One wonders how Gemini came by his rather precise bands of years. And did the flooring industry grind to a halt during the Stuart era? Was the Civil War and Restoration too much for it? And I do not suppose that our registers of old buildings, even if they were available for public download to Excel, include the presently important information about the width of the floorboards.

With a bit of luck I will remember to take a tape measure - or perhaps a carpenter's folding rule - when we next visit Hampton Court Palace. They will have a good range of historical floor boards there, starting with construction in Tudor times.

PS 1: this evening I find that there is a heritage furniture shop in a corner of Rectory Mansions. They didn't have a G-plan dining set, but they did have what looked like one of their sideboards from the same era. £500 or near enough, at a guess more than it would have cost new.

PS 2: I believe my own carpenter's folding rule is a cheap imported replica, my original having been broken in two, sourced from a well stocked hardware store at the bottom of Sutton Row, off Victoria Street in London. I wonder if it is still there? There used, long ago, to be quite a decent baker too, but I don't suppose that that has survived.

References

Reference 1: https://www.gplan.co.uk/.

Reference 2: https://psmv2.blogspot.com/2015/07/barn-conversion.html.