Abi Cott
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They are both wonky as is the letter box I think. There also seems to be a lumpy patch that probably indicates the position of the original door knob.
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Abi Cott
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I'm still reading back over the old posts, and I have to say Ivor and the wasps is a treasure, I haven laughed so much in days 
The house purchase is moving at an incremental pace, and I NEED to be in and settled before Christmas so I'm a bit naffed off, so thank you to Ivor for cheering me up
The house purchase is moving at an incremental pace, and I NEED to be in and settled before Christmas so I'm a bit naffed off, so thank you to Ivor for cheering me up
Abi Cott
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On a side note I've come to the conclusion the door is a later addition, probably Victorian and likely associated with the ground floor becoming a shop, but given it is a fairly low status rural property I'm sticking to the cast iron door furniture idea. I think I've found enough historic evidence to back up my 'purely aesthetic' choice
Abi Cott
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A small update
Hi and thank you for posting that last pic because when I saw the first image I was itching to see it stripped back. It's a lovely door and seems much chunkier since getting the paint off. I'm sure a trip to an architectural salvage yard will be able to get you some lovely door furniture.
I've had a little bit of amateur experience of old doors. I think you can ascertain quite a lot from the way a property has been used/abused in the past by looking at the door in close up detail. Yours looks to have avoided the insertion of repeated Yale locks etc where people have lost keys and had to replace them and it looks like it doesn't have any signs of cracks or shock from being hoofed or shouldered open in the past so it's been treated better than a lot and all looks to be in pretty good condition from the photos. I stripped back an old door once to reveal a lot of filler and wrecking bar marks from where someone had tried to gain access without keys but your door looks strong still. (I remember the police coming to our house when I was younger after we'd been burgled. The thieves got in by breaking a window but we had a good laugh when the police took a perfect size 9 shoe print where they'd tried to kick in the solid oak front door as well as a near perfect bum print with hand prints either side in the mud a few feet back from it after they failed! :lol: )
I can't really help with historically accurate information but I clicked the linked on Rightmove and it's a cracking house! It'll be absolutely stunning when done and it's great to see someone so interested has saved another period house. Please keep us posted on progress.
I've had a little bit of amateur experience of old doors. I think you can ascertain quite a lot from the way a property has been used/abused in the past by looking at the door in close up detail. Yours looks to have avoided the insertion of repeated Yale locks etc where people have lost keys and had to replace them and it looks like it doesn't have any signs of cracks or shock from being hoofed or shouldered open in the past so it's been treated better than a lot and all looks to be in pretty good condition from the photos. I stripped back an old door once to reveal a lot of filler and wrecking bar marks from where someone had tried to gain access without keys but your door looks strong still. (I remember the police coming to our house when I was younger after we'd been burgled. The thieves got in by breaking a window but we had a good laugh when the police took a perfect size 9 shoe print where they'd tried to kick in the solid oak front door as well as a near perfect bum print with hand prints either side in the mud a few feet back from it after they failed! :lol: )
I can't really help with historically accurate information but I clicked the linked on Rightmove and it's a cracking house! It'll be absolutely stunning when done and it's great to see someone so interested has saved another period house. Please keep us posted on progress.
Abi Cott
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I'm rather struggling with the door furniture due to the size of the letterbox. I tried Broughtons, but they don't do a smooth black letter box with the hole centres far enough apart. Any alternative suggestions for good quality door furniture would be gratefully received.
plasticpigeon
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I had the same problem with the letterbox, so I put in a new piece of wood, and cut a hole for a smaller letterbox. I was able to route out the hole that needed filling in order to get nice straight clean edges so no gaps were left. I think that would be a better idea than looking for a huge letterbox.
LadyArowana
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I really doubt you would find an early period original letterplate with anything approaching that size of opening.There are a lot of online reclaim sites, which makes for happy shopping though.
When we had a new front door made to fit the style of others in our mansion block ( Edwardian ) I spent a long time looking for a letterplate that was the same as originally installed. I don't recall ever coming across one that would have been that size. People must not have been deluged with A4 size junk mail in those days.
The suggestion to fill the void before is probably the best. Of course this presumes that you will be happy to trade the small size of the opening for improved aesthetics. I warn you that Mr Postman will not take away the A4 size junk, he will use a battering ram if necessary to force it through the opening!
When we had a new front door made to fit the style of others in our mansion block ( Edwardian ) I spent a long time looking for a letterplate that was the same as originally installed. I don't recall ever coming across one that would have been that size. People must not have been deluged with A4 size junk mail in those days.
The suggestion to fill the void before is probably the best. Of course this presumes that you will be happy to trade the small size of the opening for improved aesthetics. I warn you that Mr Postman will not take away the A4 size junk, he will use a battering ram if necessary to force it through the opening!
Abi Cott
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I've decided to fill the hole, though probably not quite as professionally as PP did. I'm going to glue a frame in to reduce the size of the aperture, and provide secure fixing points. I've roughly squared up the opening with a chisel and I will be relying on filler to make good. Not the ideal solution but the best I can manage without taking the door off and unfortunately that's not feasible for a number of reasons.
LadyArowana
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The surround for the letterbox will probably cover quite a bit of the repair anyway, happy hunting for the perfect thing. I nearly missed mine as I thought it was a repro one and I would order it when we got closer to making the door, had a bit of a panic when I later realised it was from their reclaim section not their reproductions. Sadly they don't seem to be active on the vintage side any more, as when I checked to post a link everything showed as sold.