Unknown's avatar

Splats and Spindles: Six English Regional Chairs – Exhibition at The Museum of the Home from 12 May 2026

Windsor armchair (detail), attributed to Jack Goodchild, c. 1885-1950 © Museum of the Home

Members may wish to note the forthcoming exhibition at the Museum of the Home:

Splats and Spindles: Six English Regional Chairs

Did you know that country chairs have their own language?

For centuries, across the different regions of England, people made chairs for everyday use based on local traditions, using timber and other materials readily available in the area. The craftmanship and design that informed regional chairmaking was passed from generation to generation, and distinct features formed unique chairmaking dialects associated with each region. 

Visitors will get up close with six chairs from the Bernard and Geraldine Cotton Chair Collection and Archive, most of which have not been on display for 20 years. Each chair links to a different region, where you will learn the stories of both celebrated and lesser-known makers, discover how everyday furniture can reflect local history and gain insight into Dr Bernard and Geraldine Cotton’s work.

This display is made possible with funding from the Regional Furniture Society and The Bernard and Geraldine Cotton Fund.

Date

Opens Tuesday 12 May 2026

Where

Undercroft, Home Galleries, Museum of the Home 

136 Kingsland Road E2 8EA

Price

Free

Unknown's avatar

Visit to Wycombe Museum, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire – Thursday 23 April 2026

The visit will start at 10:00, with a welcome and coffee at the Wycombe Museum. We will have a talk by curator Catherine Grigg on chair making in the area followed by an update on the chair conservation work and development of the new store, the Chair Discovery Centre. This is a major project to which the RFS has contributed grant funding. There will then be time for a self-led visit round the galleries before lunch of sandwiches and cake. 

In the afternoon we will walk to the Chair Discovery Centre, a 5-minute walk down the hill. 

The visit will finish at 4:00pm.

For members arriving by train, the museum is a few minutes’ walk from the station. There is limited on-site parking at the museum, with disabled parking available. Metered road-side parking and car parks are available within a five-minute walk.

Numbers will be limited to 20

Cost: £40.00 

Please complete the Booking Form and send to RFS Events Team at events.rfs@gmail.com by 26 February. You will be sent payment details in the following week.

Museum location and contact:

Wycombe Museum
Priory Avenue
High Wycombe
HP13 6PX

01494 957210

info@wycombemuseum.org

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – January 2026

January’s Chair of the Month is this Art Nouveau-style carved armchair with a pink velvet-covered upholstered seat.

It was made by John R Clarke of High Wycombe in about 1905, and carved by his brother-in law Edmund Hutchinson. At the time this chair was made, several Wycombe makers were experimenting with fashionable styles like this, as well as continuing to make traditional Wycombe chairs like Windsors. 

This chair is part of the latest batch recently added to our online chair database. See more at the link below!

Search Our Chair Collection

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – December 2025

December make us think of being cosy and comfortable at home beside the fire, and this month’s chair of the month would be perfect for that!

These chairs were first made by G-Plan in about 1965 and the company named them ‘The World’s Most Comfortable Chair’. Made between 1965 and 1980, they have featured in James Bond films as the villain’s chair.

This particular chair was used by a family in Hounslow, and still has the green velour cover that the family used to protect it.

Search Our Chair Collection

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – November 2025

November’s Chair of the Month is a trouser press chair.

Made in London in the 1920s by VC Bond and Sons, it was given the name Vee Cee Bee, after the company name. Like bedroom chairs made in High Wycombe it has a caned seat. It also has a press in the back, used to take the creases out of trousers.

Search Our Chair Collection

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – October 2025

Our Chair of the Month for October is this mid 20th century dining chair by Owen Haines’ factory in High Wycombe.

Underneath the seat are the initials ‘OH’, handwritten in ink. It was previous catalogued as being possibly made by Owen Harris. However, we’ve been doing some work across our chair collection, and we think ‘Owen Harris’ was a mistake and that this chair was in fact made by Owen Haines. Other chairs in our collection by Owen Haines have the same handwritten initials.

We know that Owen Haines’s factory was in Jubilee Road and Green Street from about 1907 until the 1960s. There is no record of an Owen Harris making chairs. Owen Haines was the last chair factory owner to be mayor of High Wycombe, 1960-61.

Search Our Chair Collection

Chair of the Month is a partnership between Wycombe Museum and the Regional Furniture Society.

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – August 2025

In honour of the British seaside, we have chosen a chair with a Brighton connection for Chair of the Month in August. It was made for Preston Barracks, Brighton and although it may look like it has an arm missing, it was made as a one-armed chair. Soldiers could wear their dress swords for formal dinners without the sword getting tangled in the arm of the chair. Made in about 1890.

This chair can be seen in the Chair Galleries at Wycombe Museum.

Search Our Chair Collection

Unknown's avatar

Chair of the Month – July 2025

In hope of warm, sunny weather this month, we have chosen this folding chair for Chair of the Month in July. The cane seat means it was lightweight for transporting, and the folding design and reclining pose made it suitable for relaxing in the garden or on the deck of a ship.

This chair is part of the stored collection at Wycombe Museum.  Look out in the coming months for details of exciting plans to make more of the museum’s stored collection available to visitors.

Search Our Chair Collection