Evening Telegraph, 27^th July 1984, article by Kerry Linton

Clive's terraced treasure

FOR most people turning their house into a home is top priority — but chairman of East Northants Council Clive Wood has spent 11 years changing his into a museum.

Clive, who works as a signwriter and has been a councillor for eight years, has developed a tiny terraced house in Washbrook Road, Rushden, into a miniature stately home.

Behind the average-looking front door lurk incongruous features which have been tastefully arranged to make the house half Jacobean and half Georgian.

Home pride ... Clive in his front room

The pillared hall has been converted into a study with an original duck's nest fireplace alongside two pine cupboards from the 18th century, which have been set into alcoves and painted the traditional duck egg blue. These were saved from a Northampton house which was about to be knocked down.

House of history

Double doors, which originally came from Raunds railway station, open onto a beamed Jacobean dining room with a huge fireplace. The mantel is a beam from Lymington House, Higham Ferrers, while the rest of the fireplace is made from old stone in period design.

The arch-shaped window came from a house in Oxford Street, Wellingborough, and a similar one is upstairs in the landing room, which also has a Jacobean style.

The balustrade, staircase and flag­stones came from Rushden Hall. Clive has also put down a period floor upstairs leading to a panelled bedroom which, when finished, will house his prized four-poster bed.

He has been interested in history and old properties since he was at school. On his travels round the county he has collected all types of materials and put them to use.

Some have been adapted to fit and others have been fully restored with layers of paint carefully stripped off.

He said: "Up until a few years ago demolition men would part with all sorts of items, only too anxious to get them off their hands. But it is a different story today. More value is put on original woodwork, plasterwork beams etc. So if they can save and restore it themselves they will.

"I was very lucky when I started the collection. I have managed to make my house unique and I would eventually like to share it with others by opening it as a museum."

The property is already a showpiece but Clive reckons there is a good year's work to complete before he can invite people in. [but just 6 months later he opened it - see below, KC]

Work will continue during Clive's spare moments between running his own business, his council commitments and his Rotary Club work on the Old Higham Book.

He added: "I've only really had friends in to see it and everyone has commented on their surprise at finding what is behind my front door. I'm determined to let others see it but not until it is finished."

A TYPICAL one up, one down, shoeworker's cottage could house part of a collection of Rushden bygones.

Rushden businessman David Hamblin has re­development plans for land between High Street and Rectory Road and has agreed to include the museum, although the whole scheme still has to be given planning permission by East Northants Council. [it wasn't included]

Mr Wood rings Buck's bell while putting a Victorian pewter tankard and stone footwarmer to good use in his home

"It is a very small cottage with no electricity or water supply. It has a workshop upstairs and the living accommodation must have been very cramped."

The amenities society already has some suitable artefacts which could go on display to recreate the working environment of shoemakers in the mid nineteenth century. They include an old clicking board — used for cutting the leather components of the shoe — and several original shoe samples.

And the group also has another prize item from Rushden's past which could be a centrepiece of a museum collection — the original town crier's bell.

The prize exhibit has been donated to the Amenities Society by Miss Maud Stapleton, 91, who now lives in Hull, but was formerly involved with the Rushden Independent Wesleyan Church. Miss Stapleton was given the bell by the former town crier Buck Turner after she borrowed it for various Sunday School concerts.

Mr Wood said: "Many older local people still remember Buck Turner. He had a catchphrase which many local people still use — "Don't say old Buck ain't told you."

"When we drew up a book of photographs of Old Rushden we were unable to find a picture of him and obviously now we have the bell we would be delighted to hear from anyone who has one."