FAMOUS HOUSE MENACED

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3395, 19 July 1932, Page 3

FAMOUS HOUSE MENACED

DEATH WATCH IN CHEQUERS. Chequers, the British Prime Minister’s official country residence, is closed. Police guard the house night and day outside, and at night, too, an exceptionally big and powerful Great Dane has the run of the interior, says the Daily Mail. During the next few months this beautiful old Buckinghamshire mansion near Wendover, which Lord Lee of Fareham presented to the nation for the use of its Premiers, will be given over entirely to the Office of Works for seriously essential repairs. Experts discovered that the bulk of the timber in the house had been dangerously ravaged by the deathwatch beetle and dry rot. Both had attacked not only oak beams, set up hundreds of years ago, and old panelling, but also wood put in during fairly recent times. Examination of a number of the principal rooms showed that the main supports of the roof and the joists of the floors were in a condition which threatened real peril. One of the experts responsible for making Chequers safe for the occupation of Mr. MacDonald and for future Prime Ministers told a Daily Mail reporter that the decay in the woodwork of the house was the worst he had ever known. “The floor of the Great Chamber — or Great Parlour, as it is sometimes

called —was in a particularly bad state,” he said. “This apartment on the first floor is 40ft. long and 22ft. wide, and was floored with oak. The floor had every appearance of being sound, but when we cut through to the joists we found that they were covered with fungus and in an advanced condition of rot.

“This fine room is generally used for receptions. It is lucky that the Prime Minister did not hold a crowded meeting, or give a dance in it lately. Had he done so the weight of his guests might have caused the joists to give way, and down would have gone the floor and everybody on it. “Our discovery of the condition of the wood in the roof was also very timely. It is a wonder that it held together so long. “The special danger of the condition of much of the woodwork throughout the house was that most of it was out of sight—covered with plaster, and so on —and that which was visible seemed to be sound. It needed a special examination to disclose the true state of affairs.

“However, everything will soon be all right again. To make doubly certain of strength we have in some places introduced steel and concrete; we have even strengthened some of the remaining beams with steel. But everything in the house will look the same as it did before our work began; the character of the place has not been changed in the slightest degree.” An official of the Office of Works said that the work would not be completed for six or seven months. The work is being pushed forward, however, so that Mr. MacDonald will be able to resume residence in three or four months’ time. Meanwhile the treasures of Chequers —the priceless antique furniture, pictures, and Cromwellian relics ■ — which include the Dictator’s swords and portraits of him —are being stored in state rooms that have already been restored.” A photographic record is being kept of every stage of the work on Chequers.