Clissett chair by John Warrender with board seat, 4 spindles within back bars, curved back uprights, shaped front rail, ring-turned front legs (which are slightly higher than the seat)

WS 154 Clissett chair by John Warrender

WS 155 John Warrender I*W stamp

These chairs are easily recognisable as Philip Clissett and members of his family made them for many years in the nineteenth century in and around Herefordshire. I came across a set of three while at the Newark Antique fair and was struck by their excellent condition. I really had no intention of buying them until I noticed some impressed initials at the top of the back legs; I pointed them out to the dealer but he was not in the slightest bit bothered. The letters were quite clear: I*W but they meant nothing to me so I sent an email to Terry Rowell who runs the Philip Clissett website. A short while later he contacted me to say the initial stood for John Warrender, a chairmaker from Worcestershire who was an uncle of Philip Clissett's, and the signed chairs were uncommon. The price was negotiated and I was happy to leave the fair with something, as I had not come across a single chair that could be associated with Lincolnshire.

Lower picture shows the impressed initials of John Warrender on the top of the back leg of chair No 154. He lived and worked in the village of Bransford, Worecesterchire . There is really no need for me to print anything else here but recommend you to visit Terry Rowell's  excellent Philip Clissett website website. You will find everything you need to know about him and his family.

© William Sergeant 2019

Glasgow pattern joined armchair with curved top rail, central shaped cross splat, scrolled arms, shaped underarms fixed into side rails, dyked board seat, stretchers x 4, inner & rear tapered legs

WS 144 Scottish joined armchair, Glasgow pattern 

If you thought this site was going to entirely devoted to Lincolnshire chairs then you may be disappointed - or perhaps pleasantly surprised.  This chair was most probably made north of Glasgow & Edinburgh, in lowland Scotland.

How do I know that, I hear you say? Well, just look at the wood of the broad curved top rail, the centrally placed cross splat (with both upward and downward shaping) and the right hand curved back upright are made out of - they contain dark heart wood and light yellow sapwood.   Only one wood like that: Laburnum! There was a strong and well-recorded tradition of the use of Cytisus alpinus (also Laburnum alpinum) from the late 1700s in lowland Perthshire. Also the seat is counter sunk into the rails - known as a dyked seat - and you can just make out the 45° degree angle the corner of the seat board is cut at the top of the legs tapered on the inner and rear faces; both are Scottish traditions.  The scrolled arms and curved underarm supports, fitted to the side seat rails are made from elm and the seat boards from oak. Front and rear stretchers are set higher than those at the sides.

For further examples of these Glasgow pattern chairs, see Dr B D Cotton Scottish Vernacular Furniture (Thames & Hudson 2008) pp.178-188.

I happened across this wonderful piece of vernacular furniture at the Stamford Antique centre described as a yew wood country chair.

© William Sergeant 2019