Yorkshire compound-bent bow back Windsor armchair, with 6 long sticks, 4 short, turned underarms, turned legs, and H stretcher WS 219

Most people who visit this chair blog will know that I live in Lincolnshire, which accounts for all the chairs from that county on this site. However, I am fortunate to live very close to the Nottinghamshire border as well as being very close to Newark, which in turn means that it is so easy for me to visit the huge antique fair at the Newark showground several times every year. It has been a spectacular hunting ground for me in my search for vernacular furniture. Some of the dealers have got to recognise me and occasionally ask for my thoughts and advice on various pieces that they have brought along with them. Dave is one such dealer and I always make his pitch my first stop every time I visit the fair. He is from over the Humber Bridge in South Yorkshire and he kindly keeps interesting chairs in his van so that I can have first pick, which I really appreciate. 

Yorkshire compound-bent bow back Windsor armchair, with 6 long sticks, 4 short, turned underarms, turned legs through-mortised and wedged, with H stretcher WS 219

A couple of years ago he produced this chair from the back of his van and because it had its legs reduced in length and had been totally painted white, he said it was mine for a few pounds. I knew it was a Yorkshire Windsor chair and told him so, pointing out that it was worth more than he was asking for it. The rather bizarre negotiation then took place where I was talking the price up while he was happy with the first price that had been mentioned. In the end we met in the middle and we were both more than happy. 

It has the unique feature of the compound steam bent back bow, that is a hallmark of these Yorkshire Windsor chairs. Every component appears to be made from Ash wood with everything being contempory with its making and no replacement parts. If you look closely at the image, you will see that the legs are of differing designs - I have no doubt that it started life like this.

Legs through-mortised and wedged from above WS 219

Long sticks through back bow and wedged from above WS 219

Shortly afterwards, I took it along to Tim Garland in Lincoln to discuss the best way to do some sort of restoration work on it. Using stripper to clean off all the white paint was not an option so it was done the hard way - a little bit of scrapping at a time, so as to remove the white and leave as much as possible of its original green paint. Many thanks to Tim and his wife Vicky for doing such a fine job.

Before the paint was removed WS 219

Before the paint was removed WS 219

Underside of seat WS 219

© William Sergeant 2021