I bought this old lectern, most likely originally from a church, from a reclamation place, in Three Holes.
The guy that runs that place asked for £50. I believe I paid £25. It was in a pretty sorry state. Evidently it’s been outdoors a good long while.
Made of oak. It’s been heavily weathered. Some of the timbers have dried out, bowed, and even cracked.
Originally, or at least when I first got it, it had a kind of platform, for standing on. I didn’t like this; it made the whole piece both unwieldy and space-consuming.
So the first thing I did, today, was cut that off, and use part of it to strengthen what remained, resulting in a new and smaller footprint.
Evidence of earlier modifications? One side has the original … , whilst the other has been replaced with dowels, and their corresponding holes.
The above images show the ‘feet’. These were very damaged. And held in place wi’ ancient rusted screws. Getting these screws out was hard work. Indeed, the attempt caused all but one of the ‘feet’ to split and break. So I’ve had to glue them all back together.
The two carved side panels have lost a few bits. And at their bases, there are some splits. I tried gluing these together, before reassembly. With mixed success!