A bit of a collector like most of my family, my Mum had a lovely selection of plaster Lilliput Lane houses amongst other things.
https://www.lilliputlane.co.uk/pages/made-in-britain
This weekend would have been my late Mum’s birthday (she died last Autumn in her early 80s). Some of these tiny painted plaster houses (no doubt birthday presents) and her other collections have now been sold to make a donation to a medical charity on her / our family’s behalf but family members were all able to choose a keepsake or two.
I chose these two Lilliput Lane buildings for my gaming table.
They were two of my favourites amongst her remaining collection. They are
- St. Kevin’s, a typical early Irish stone church in Wicklow
- Tumbledown “Cobbler’s Cottage” (in Northants) with damaged roof.
Most Lilliput Lane houses are based on very well kept and very well groomed buildings. Both these choices looked the most wonky or battered and timeless, so most versatile as centrepieces of any gaming scenario.
The white window frames might need a little dulling down but they are well matched for size by my Peter Laing 15mm figures.
It was the detail of gravestones and flowers or the old wheel inside a shed that I found especially fascinating. I often used to wonder who lived in these houses. I half expected the door to open and a Peter Laing 15mm sized figure to come marching out or come whistling round the corner. I partly blame the 1992 BBC TV version of Mary Norton’s The Borrowers for that.
Although I admired them on their cabinet shelf, I wasn’t allowed by Mum to use them in my gaming with my 15mm Peter Laing figures. Being made of painted plaster, they are quite easily damaged and quite fragile unlike most resin games buildings. These two buildings both need a little bit of paint repair.
They are a nice way to remember my Mum, every time these are out on the gaming table or on my desk.
Postscript
Lilliput Lane ceased manufacture in November 2016 with few buildings left in their online shops. Another small British company sadly bites the dust.
“The factory has been trading at a loss for some time now and we have reached the point where this is no longer sustainable. It has been a long journey since Lilliput Lane started in 1982, we have enjoyed the support of many thousands of our loyal collectors at hundreds of events all over the United Kingdom and overseas, many friendships have been made and good times had by all. It is now at a time of changing consumer tastes that the demand for our products has declined to the point where it is impossible to go on.” (Website statement)
Other stockists may have stock, along with collectors’ fairs and the usual online auction sources.
The website catalogue / website shows how these fine plaster buildings were carved or moulded in wax, handcast in silicon mounds and then hand painted.
https://www.lilliputlane.co.uk/pages/made-in-britain
Blogposted by Mark, Man of TIN, 11 June 2017.
Man of Tin blog 
They are lovely buildings and a nice way to remember your mother.
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I have used some of these buildings for my games. They seem to come in two scales; like yours there are the roughly 15mm scale types and there are also 25mm ones. These seem to go under the name of ‘David Winter’ and are very suitable for ECW and other 17th/18th Century actions. I did not realise that the company had gone under – shame.
I think that you chose well, two lovely useful buildings.
Bob
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Thanks James and Bob – stocks are available secondhand online auctions or from distributors around the world, there are dealers or distributors in the USA and elsewhere. Mark, Man of TIN
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A lovely idea to combine remembering your Mum with gaming. Buildings look excellent and will most certainly enhance a game. Shame that L.L has met it’s demise.
Alan
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Thanks Alan,
I agree it is a shame when companies like this vanish – changing tastes and markets, changing demographic, probably along with the high cost of not outsourcing hand-made, hand-cast and hand-painted product proudly made in the U.K., coupled with the founder’s passing. Hopefully the surviving stock will be treasured by collectors worldwide.
Mark
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I believe my own mother also had one of these, in fact I think she still has it. I’ll be looking for it now next time I’m visiting. Keeping these maintains a nice connection with memories of your mother.
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My late parents were both encouraging about my gaming in many ways (although all troops had to be off the dinner table by mealtimes) and so using these great little cottages keeps them both part of my gaming still, many years on. Mark
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