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Corn dolly in the form of a horse and cart, mounted on a wooden base. The dimensions and harness details were provided by MERL.
This corn dolly is in the form of a horse and cart, mounted on a wooden base. The frame of the cart is made of flat straw, and the rest of the structure from spirally woven corn. The dimensions and harness details were provided by MERL.

1 corn dolly: corn

MERL miscellaneous note Greta Bertram, 20 August 2013 – The 'Coker Collection' of corn dollies was bequeathed to the Museum by Alec Coker, who devoted his retirement from 1965 until his death in 1986 to spreading knowledge of and teaching the craft of corn dolly making. He first became interested in the craft when working at the BBC when he encountered dollies as props on the set of ‘Lorna Doone’ in the 1930s. ‘Corn’ is a term for the family of grains which includes barley, oats, wheat and rye. ‘Corn dolly’ is a wide-ranging term which includes figures, love tokens, crosses, Scandinavian star designs, and Far Eastern shrine dolls made from ‘corn’ straw. Techniques used in the craft include tying, plaiting, weaving and marquetry. The corn dolly was originally an object used in rites and rituals, and in many parts of the world it was believed that the ‘Corn Goddess’ lived in the crop and died when it was harvested. Images of the Goddess, or other talismans, were woven from the last sheaf to be reaped and carefully preserved to ensure an abundant crop the following year. By the twentieth century, corn dollies had lost their ritual associations, and from the 1950s there was a concerted effort to preserve the craft of corn dolly making., MERL 'Handwritten accession' form (Institute of Agricultural History) – ‘Description: Horse and Cart // The cart is made of flat straw making the rectangular frame. The edge of the cart, the figure of the man, the horse and wheels of the cart are all made of spirally woven corn. The structure is mounted on a wooden base, painted brown. // Dimensions: 31cm x 11cm // Associated information: A similar example was constructed for a pub called the Wagon and Horses in Oxfordshire. The dimension and harness types were provided by the Reading Museum of English Rural Life. // References: A. Coker. The Craft of Straw Decoration p.79'