Mouseman: North Yorkshire home filled with Mouseman furniture is up for sale

The little beasties are everywhere, climbing the staircase, in the panelling, hiding on the back porch, peeping out of doorways and even hanging off light fittings. But there’s no need to call pest control.

These are very special mice, carved out of wood by the descendants of Robert Thompson, the famous ‘Mouseman of Kilburn’, whose mouse emblem still decorates everything made in the family business today.

Born in 1876, Robert dedicated his life to the craft of carving and creating furniture in English oak. He became renowned for his craftsmanship, his work taking its rightful place in the influential Arts and Crafts movement, the revival of traditional English style led by William Morris and John Ruskin in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The carved mouse, a ‘maker’s mark’ that designated a piece as belonging to the Thompson firm, has a fascinating history. The story told by Robert Thompson himself is that one of his craftsmen remarked that they were “all as poor as church mice”. So Robert carved a mouse on the church screen he was working on at the time, and the first mouse was born.

This intrepid mouse has travelled far and wide - Mouseman furniture is sought after by collectors all over the world - and made an impression closer to home too. At Ampleforth College, just six miles from Kilburn, before the Second World War, the then-headmaster Fr Paul Nevill admired the work of Robert Thompson so much he asked him to make furniture for the school and decorative features for the library, the latter widely considered to be the greatest display of ‘Mouseman’ work anywhere.

Robert died in 1955, but his descendants live locally and carry on the tradition. The family business, Robert Thompson’s Craftsmen Ltd, is still in Kilburn today, https://www.robertthompsons.co.uk/, designing, making and sell ing furniture and home accessories in English oak, from a pair of whimsical book-ends at £250 to impressive multi-shelved dressers from around £11,000.

South View was purchased as a two-bedroomed cottage in 1957 by John Cartwright, Robert Thompson’s grandson.

When the Cartwrights bought it, having been previously owned by The Church Commissioners, who owned many properties in the village, South View was a two-bedroomed farmworker’s cottage.

John and his wife, who raised three sons here, extended the original house and turned it into a warm and welcoming family home.

As well as adding living space, John set about a ‘Mouseman makeover’, handcrafting in English oak internal doors, staircase, skirting boards, architraves, window sills, mantle shelf, light fittings, panelling as well as exterior doors and the back porch, bringing in the mouse motif as he went.The family remember the main reception room - the living and dining area - as the ‘hub of the home’, with an open fire and dual-aspect view; south over the garden and east over neighbouring farmland and open countryside.

However, due to bereavement, the house now stands empty and ready for its next chapter. It’s on the market with Croft Residential, for offers over £775,000.

“Having made the difficult decision to sell our family home, my brothers and I are looking forward to seeing South View renovated and restored to be enjoyed by another family for years to come”, says Robert Thompson’s great-grandson, Giles Thompson Cartwright.

There are two main reception rooms on the ground floor, both south-facing, plus a kitchen and cloakroom. With the necessary planning permissions – the house is not listed – this space could lend itself well to reconfiguration into modern open-plan living.

Upstairs are four bedrooms, three of which are doubles and a house bathroom. With 2,400 sq ft of living space altogether and the potential for extension, plus a free-standing garage, there is lots of scope for remodelling whilst keeping the history of the house intact.

The 150 ft long south-facing garden, where the three brothers loved to play cricket and football, enjoying picnics in summer and building snowmen and sledging in the winter, features herbaceous borders and a gorgeous rose collection, a particular passion for John, who tended to them throughout his life. There is ample scope to add a home office, an orangery and to bring in extra bathrooms, subject to planning.

Kilburn, with its venerable White Horse, is a pretty and popular village with a renowned pub, The Forresters Arms and St Mary’s Parish Church, which features a number of Mouseman pews, fittings and other ecclesiastical furniture. The village is just six miles from Thirsk, where there are direct trains to London Kings Cross, nine and eight miles respectively from two other market towns, Helmsley and Easingwold and five miles from the A19.

As well as Ampleforth, there are a number of well-regarded independent and state schools with a 15-mile radius of Kilburn, including Thirsk School and Sixth Form College, offering Ofsted-rated ‘Good’ state secondary education.

“We are very excited to be selling this gem of a property in Kilburn, especially with the family links to the famous Mouseman furniture and the fact that South View has not been on the market for 60 years,” says Sarah Weston, sales negotiator at Croft Residential. “The house has bags of character and charm with a beautiful garden. But it is ready for an update and for the new owners to put their own stamp on this lovely family home.”