The majestic and bleak Pennine Chain has always been a great physical presence and overwhelming influence on the people of the northern counties bordering its steep slopes, from the Lake District and Lancashire in the west to Yorkshire and Derbyshire in the east.

Over the centuries and even within our living memory, the difficulty of crossing such high and treacherous moorland has resulted in insular local communities spawning their own idiosyncratic customs and traditions reflected in their local furniture and artefacts. The land, with its steep pasture and plentiful, pure water sustained a long thriving woollen trade upon which the wealth of the region grew, allowing industrious farming and merchant families to display their success through fine hall houses adorned with specially commissioned carved oak furniture. As Northern Dealers these styles of furniture often with rich, symbolic carving derived from ancient folklore have always been part of our lives.

We love sharing some of our local knowledge about such areas as the old West Riding of Yorkshire, with its rich heritage of medieval, wool merchants houses nestled into the sheltered valley slopes as they dip steeply down below the rugged moor tops, along side pieces from the snug, low farmhouses set below the majestic Cumbrian fells.

One needs to have experienced a bleak, long winter in the Pennines to begin to understand the importance of the fireplace and hearth at the centre of the rural house.

It was around this central source of heat that the domestic interior as we know it today has its roots providing warmth and sustenance for the family, their servants and visitors alike. Around this central life sustaining fire grew the archetypal hall house, the main house body being a single multi functional large room open to the rafters wit the huge chimney and its open hearth burning night and day, providing the only source of light , heat and comfort with meals being cooked and eaten there, rest being taken, household tasks being performed and at the end of a long day perhaps some conversation, some singing and music making and not a little drinking before at least some of the household would lay their beds where they could still around the warmth of the hearth.

With this picture in mind we can see how the early forms of furniture developed in this environment. The simple essentials of working life, the trestle table with some benches and stools to stack underneath when not in use. A high backed settle to pull up to the inglenook against the drafts, perhaps a solid armchair in wealthier households for the head of the family. For the keeping of essential and more prized belongings such as eating and drinking vessels in pewter and wood, and for linen and clothing the simplest and most basic item of furniture was the coffer with its loose or hinged lid. Then came the various forms of cupboard, literally starting with the cup board, planks of wood on legs, later evolving into a two or three tiered construction and then into a more secure enclosed cupboard with upper and lower sections and later still evolving into the dresser form with its more specific use as a functional pot store but also a showy display area for the families best eating and drinking wares. Other small pieces of furniture for keeping precious items, such things as salt, candles, and of course food also came into existence, these often took the form of wall cupboards out of the way of ever present mice, rats and damp.

All these items of furniture would be hewn from local trees, in the North this was predominantly oak with some elm, ash and other indigenous species such as alder, yew and the fruitwoods, cherry, plum pear and apple The very earliest forms of this farm house furniture were very simply constructed from planks of wood with simple joints and dowels but as we approach the 16^th century carved ornamentation begins to play its part in the decorated surface of many pieces allowing the craftsman to show off his skills and display the degree of wealth and status of the owner. The full flowering of regional carving in the late 17^th century, with its rich vocabulary of forms and ornamentation can be seen in the many pieces of furniture which happily still exist today in both private homes, museums, churches and houses open to the public around the country.

It is only when we transport ourselves in our imaginations to a time before artificial light that we can begin to appreciate the rich effect of intricate carving on heavy oak furniture glinting from the shadowy recesses of a room lit only by fire and candlelight.