Mouseman: 'I visited the famous Mouseman workshop in Kilburn - the sense of history is palpable'

Although the workshop has expanded over the years, it is not hard to imagine Robert Thompson at his work bench crafting some of Yorkshire’s most iconic furniture for homes and churches all with his trademark mouse signature.

The customers may have changed, Simon Thompson Cartwright is busy carving mice for a London designer, while his great-great grandfather’s work would have been more at home in an ecclesiastical setting, but the quality remains the same.

It is 150 years since Robert Mouseman Thompson was born in the North Yorkshire village of Kilburn where generations of his family continue his distinguished trade.

Born in 1876, Robert was the sixth child of village joiner, John Thompson, and his wife Dinah. The path to his craft came via an engineering apprenticeship in the industrial town of Cleckheaton.

Expansion over the years led to the fond reference ‘House of the Mouse’ where Thompson-taught craftsmen transform naturally seasoned English Oak into furniture and other functional items to the calibre of which these craftsmen are accustomed.

At its height there were up to 30 craftsmen in the workshop all under the eagle eye of Robert Thompson.

Today it is Robert Thompson’s great-grandson, Ian Cartwright Thompson, who shows me around the famous workshop where a small but skilled team of 15 craftsmen and apprentices are making everything from a 14-foot dining table to intricate lattice-work chairs.

They still use the old woodworking technique of adzing that would have been used by the great man himself. The furniture may be new but the sense of history is palpable.

“We are just custodians of the business for the next generation,” says 71-year-old Ian who is joined on our tour by yet another generation of Thompson in the form of Simon’s daughter Arabella who, when not studying for GCSEs, helps with the waxing and polishing.

“It was my great-great grandfather John Thompson who was the village joiner making pig troughs and window frames for the cottages and farms in Kilburn,” explains Ian.

“Robert had been sent to Cleckheaton to be an apprentice engineer and he would go via Ripon and became fascinated by the cathedral’s wooden carved interiors.

"When he came back to Kilburn when his father was ill, inspired by his visits to Ripon Cathedral, he realised that there was a lot more they could be making than pig troughs.”

A young Robert became involved in the Arts and Crafts movement of the time and saw that the church was where all the money was and they were in need of skilled craftsmen.

Mouseman pieces now change hands for thousands of pounds at auction and are highly sought after. It is clear that Ian and all the family who still work at Robert Thompsons feel not only pride but joy in what they do.

“This isn’t work for me,” says Ian. “I enjoy coming to work and that’s why I still work at 71. We are all very hands on. When my son left college he came to work in the business.”

Robert Thompsons is now run by his great-grandsons Ian, Peter, and Giles and Ian’s son, Simon. The main problem today, he says, is recruiting young people from outside the family into the business.

“It is hard to get young people who want to learn a skill and work with their hands,” says Ian.

While they still do some ecclesiastical work, most of the furniture that comes out of the Kilburn workshop today is for the domestic market.

They make more than 130 standard items such as best-selling tables and chairs as well as bespoke orders from doors to dining tables.

But it is not just about making new. A big part of the Robert Thompson business today is about refurbishing their old furniture – their order and refurbishment book is full for the next ten months.

“Our furniture has a very good residual value whether it is new pieces or old. What we do here is very specialised and we find it a great compliment that people still want or buy what we do here.

"People buy them as heirlooms to be passed down through the generations.

"We offer a part-exchange service as well so if people’s circumstances have changed and they want something smaller – or bigger – then we are happy to do part-exchange.

"I always say we have one foot in our past and one foot in the future.”

And it is not a quick process. All the oak comes from the North of England and Scotland.

“We are buying trees that are more than 200 years in the ground and then they go to the saw mill in Ampleforth where they are cut into planks.

"They are then brought to Kilburn to our timber yard. For every half-inch thickness it is a minimum of a year in drying time.”

So how did the signature mouse come about?

“Great grandfather was working with a fellow craftsman called Charlie Barker who lived in the village.

"Charlie mentioned that they were both as poor as church mice. Great grandfather thought how he was like the church mouse working away with its chisel-like teeth and here he was on the edge of the Hambleton Hills.”

The mouse has evolved over the years – it used to have front legs but they were prone to break.

All the mice are integral parts of the furniture and every apprentice has to learn how to carve them which means they are all slightly different.

“You can tell which craftsman made a piece of furniture by the mouse,” says Ian, who is an expert in spotting a genuine a Mouseman piece so long as he can feel the workmanship in his hands, although he says with success comes an increase in fakes as people try to cash in on the brand’s success.

Some are cheap copies imported from abroad which are easier to spot including 200 stools imported from China.

The harder ones are possibly from former employees who have passed work off as coming from the Kilburn workshops.

Why does he think that the Robert ‘Mouseman’ Thompson brand has lasted so long and remains so sought after?

“We like to treat our customers as we’d like to be treated ourselves. We aren’t run by accountants it is run by the family and is still in the place where it all began – it ‘s like a step back in time for people.

"It’s all about the experience – it wouldn’t be the same if we were on an industrial park somewhere. We do everything the way great grandfather did it – quality craftmanship that stands the test of time.”

Each piece of furniture is one man’s job from start to finish – there are no production lines here.

Sadly, the visitor centre and cafe which opened some 30 years ago was a victim of Covid and hasn’t yet reopened. But there is still a showroom and just visiting Kilburn itself feels like stepping back in time

Despite his death in 1955, Robert Thompson’s legacy lives on in the many pieces sent aroound the world, and the new work still being created in the Kilburn workshop.

Furniture featuring the mouse command high prices, yet, despite their value, they continue to be used in homes for practical purposes and are loved by generations.