Mr. Arthur Paxton, whose work "deals with the repair of medieval and later church buildings", was disappointed on a recent visit to our Village to discover that while many of the houses looked Victorian enough from the outside ( plastic windows the exception) , all of those he investigated internally showed extensive signs of alteration. Mr. Paxton's question to Sentinel readers is: "Would it be possible to find out if any of the existing terraced housing was still as built, with outside w.c. and shed, back yard, kitchen or scullery, living room and bedrooms on the first floor ... and for the fine detail of floors, doors, windows, staircases etc to be documented ?""I thought it rather a pity" concludes Mr. Paxton, possibly raising another point for discussion, "that part of the Salt Mill complex could not have been set aside to encourage a small joinery works to manufacture like for like timber doors and windows for the terraced housing. Having just returned from Bruges and looked at their conservation, like for like repairs and traditional paint finishes look so much better to professionals and tourists alike."   

Editor's notes: It seems highly unlikely that we will turn up a house in its original condition (aren't there laws about such things?) – but Mr. Paxton has raised an interesting point about the extent to which local houses have been archived. Perhaps we could run a competition for the Village house which has had the least work done on it – or the one which is closest to its original condition; not, of course, necessarily the same thing.