Oak Treasures in Condemned Houses

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6850, 4 March 1929, Page 4

Oak Treasures in Condemned Houses

SECRETS BEHIND WALLS Some of the ancient architectural treasures in the quaint town of Rye, England, which teems with them, are being restored to use and beauty under interesting circumstances, says the Daily Chronicle.” Several years ago a well-known London solicitor took a house there and fell at once under the spell of Rye’s charms. It was an old house in The Mint, a narrow street in one of the oldest parts of the town, built something like 400 years ago. and even misguided, though well-meant alterations had not succeeded In hiding all its delightful characteristics. But the purchaser felt that some must have been concealed, and he was right. The pulling down of a wall re-

vealed a wonderful old open fireplace; other efforts disclosed great oak beams, and now his home, filled with lovely old furniture, pictures and china, is a practically perfect example of its period. These revelations stimulated his interest in other houses In the town which he felt might have suffered a similar fate. As they ?ame into the market he looked them over, and if he considered they could be restored bought them. His workmen have now recondi-

tioned a large number of Rye’s most beautiful gems in stone and wood, and the work is still proceeding. Many of the houses were actually condemned by the local authorities when he took them over. “It is often necessary to supplement the woodwork, but nothing., but genuine old oak is used. Supplies of beams and panelling in hand total some thousands of feet. “Another thing: I never use wood to which a saw has been applied,” said the solicitor-renovator.| “They didn’t use the saw in the old days; they used that curious implement, the adze, with which the expert could not only cut, but also obtain a surface almost as smooth as that produced by the plane. “It is impossible to tell exactly how old are some of the beams in the Rye houses and those of which I now make use. Often they had been built into ships which sailed the seas 100 to 200 years before they were put into the homes of the people. This one,” he said, tapping an example, “would probably turn the scale at a ton. "Some people believe that the French Revolution was In part plotted here,” he continued, as ho led the way to the famous Mermaid Inn, and pointed out a scratch, “1795,” and a name, on one of the diamond-paned windows.