A FRONT door, believed to date from the late 1700s, has been returned to its home town after an absence of 40 years.

Now on display at the Richmondshire Museum, in Richmond, the door once graced a house in the town's Ryder's Wynd.

It was made for a house that belonged to the Leefe family, who were solicitors in Richmond.

They built Leefe House, on the site of the present Anchor Housing development.

The family moved to Malton many years ago, but the door remained and was spotted by a descendant, Major Christopher Leefe, in 1946, when he was stationed at the Green Howards depot, in Richmond.

He was fascinated by the door and vowed one day to return and buy it.

More than 20 years later, while visiting the Green Howards Museum in Richmond, he discovered that Leefe House had been demolished.

Inquiries revealed that the door stood in a council yard in the town and Major Leefe bought it for £5 and put in on his own house in Surrey.

When he moved to Germany this year, he decided the door should return to Richmond and has now presented it to the museum.

Published: 07/07/2005