Parish Church, North Yorkshire It is claimed that the mouse
motif came about accidentally in 1919 following a conversation about "being as poor as a church mouse", which took place between Thompson and one of his colleagues during the carving of a
cornice for a
screen. This chance remark led to him carving a mouse and this remained part of his work from this point onwards. Thompson was part of the 1920s revival of craftsmanship, inspired by the
Arts and Crafts movement led by
William Morris,
John Ruskin and
Thomas Carlyle. More specific to furniture making in this genre and era include
Stanley Webb Davies of
Windermere. The workshop, now being run by his descendants, includes a showroom and the
Mouseman Visitor Centre, and is located beside the Parish Church, which contains "Mouseman"
pews, fittings and other furniture. The company is now known as "Robert Thompson's Craftsmen Ltd – The Mouseman of Kilburn." Fr Paul Nevill, a former Headmaster of
Ampleforth College, asked Thompson to make
Ampleforth Abbey's furniture; Others, including former apprentices who continued in his style working in Yorkshire oak, adopted similar identifying marks and nicknames. These makers include Thomas "Gnomeman" Whittaker (1910–1991), Atkinson (1910-?)(apprentice to Robert Thompson), Derek "Lizardman" Slater, Colin "Beaverman" Almack, Robert "Rabbitman" Heap, Graham "Swanman" Duncalf, Alan "Acornman" Grainger, Wilf "Squirrelman" Hutchinson, Albert "Eagleman" Jeffray, Malcolm "Foxman" Pipes, and Shaw & Riley "The Seahorsemen of Hessay". ==Gallery==