Object number
61/201
Collection
Exhibition
Creator
Description
This is a large straw effigy depicting King Alfred. It was made in 1961 by master thatcher Mr Jesse Maycock of Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxfordshire. It was one of three commissioned by University College Oxford for their Commemoration Ball that year, the others depicting King Alfred seated and William Archdeacon of Durham, the founder of the College in 1247. The effigy is solid, the rigidity achieved by the working of the straw and osier peggings; it is made of ordinary rick straw and uses thatching techniques, rather than those used by straw-dolly makers.
Physical description
1 effigy : straw
Label Text
<DIV STYLE="text-align:Justify;font-family:Georgia;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;font-size:16;color:#000000;"><P><SPAN><SPAN>KING ALFRED // DETAILS // Categories Our Country Lives // Theme(s) Arts and crafts, Local history // Collection Strawcraft and Thatching Objects // Date 1961 // Object number 61/201 // DESCRIPTION // If you think this figure has a regal air about him, you would not be wrong. // This is a straw ‘sculpture’ of the Anglo-Saxon King Alfred. Originally, the figure had a wooden sword in one hand and a straw scroll in the other, representing both the warrior and the scholar. It is actually one of three figures made by master thatcher Jesse Maycock for the annual University College ball, Oxford, in 1961. One figure was a seated King Alfred, while the other was William Archdeacon of Durham, the founder of the College in 1247. Jesse created King Alfred using the same techniques involved in making a thatched roof, where straw or reeds are used protect the top of a building.</SPAN></SPAN></P></DIV>
Archival history
Letter, University College, Oxford to MERL, 18 July 1961 - 'I am glad you have agreed to take one of the effigies, and I hope you approve of your agent's choice. // Such details I have concerning the figure are these: // It represents King Alfred, dressed in the typical Anglo Saxon belted smock and bound stockings, and wearing a small crown. (At the Commem we put a sword in one hand and a scroll in the other to symbolise the warrior and the scholar). It was one of three commissioned for the Commemoration Ball in June; King Alfred being the traditional founder of University College in 872. (The other two effigies are of Alfred seated and of William Archdeacon of Durham, actual founder of the college in 1247.) // They were executed by a master thatcher, Mr Jesse Maycock, of Charlton on Otmoor, Oxfordshire. He had never done anything like this before and had never seen any similar effigies. I supplied drawings and measurements (though Mr Maycock's rendering of them is so free as to constitute an original!). // Alfred is solid and built round a central pole, but has no "framework" as such: the rigidity is achieved almost entirely by the working of the straw, and by the withy or osier pegging. // The straw is ordinary rick straw and the whole approach is that of a thatcher, rather than of a straw-dolly maker. I can't say exactly how long it took to make, but it was ready within 10 days or so of the drawings being supplied., MERL 'Handwritten catalogue' form – 'EFFIGY (KING ALFRED) // see correspondence. made at Charlton on Otmoor, Oxfordshire.'
Production place
Charlton-on-Otmoor
Production date
1961 - 1961
Object name
Material
Technique
Dimensions
- Height 2100 mm
- Width 900 mm
Associated subject
Associated person/institution
External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_3996.tif - High resolution image