Sid Pollard [ex-Mouseman] Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School Oak Dining Table

An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Dining Table by Sid Pollard [ex-Mouseman] c. 1970. A lovely 5 foot Yorkshire School table featuring a three plank fox tongue joined top with exposed dowels (including one very wide central plank.. Featuring:

• Solid English Oak throughout

• Well figured quarter-sawn English Oak (quarter-sawing is a way of sawing oak to produce boards with superior strength which also reveals decorative 'medullary rays' in its grain.)

• Rectangular top made out of just three continuous pieces of Oak

• Shaped trestle supports with sledge feet joined by a floor level stretcher

• Fox tongue joined top with exposed dowels

• Traditional blind tenons secured with hand made pegs

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Length 1530mm (5 feet)

• Overall Depth 910mm (2 feet 11 3/4 inches)

• Overall Height 770mm (2 feet 6 1/4 inches) [A standard height for a dining table]

• Top Depth 40mm ( 1 1/2 inch)

c.1970

Very good condition with excellent rich colour and grain, tight joints and original finish. One gap between the ends on 2 of the planks, due to minor contraction.. If you wish to have further specific photographs or talk to us for a more detailed condition report then please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sid Pollard (Ex-Mouseman): One of Robert 'Mouseman)' Thompson's very early apprentices, who continued making the same style and quality of furniture in his own workshop. He was one of the few apprentices not to chose a trademark animal for his own work, (although some early items reportedly initially a rabbit motif) his work is almost always unmarked, preferring to let his craftsmanship speak for itself.

The most British of woods, that can produce really special results. English oak has been used for hundreds of years to construct everything from sea-going vessels to fine furniture. Although oak grows widely across Europe and North America, craftsmen continue to cherish English oak which grows more slowly than its foreign counterparts giving it strength, durability. Quarter sawn boards are very straight grained and have distinctive growth rings and medullary rays that give a very beautiful effect as well as being renowned for their superior stability and strength

The Yorkshire School of the Arts & Crafts movement started with Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's  transformation from jobbing carpenter to master craftsmen. By the mid-1920s he had adopted his trademark mouse (now world renowned as a symbol of quality furniture) and had his own workshop busily employing several men. As the workshop grew and over the years many of the craftsmen have taken their skills and branched out and adopted a trademark of their own, a fox, a lizard, a fish, a rabbit to name but a few, and whilst some have closely stuck to the Mouseman designs others have taken the style and adapted it. Other craftsmen, unconnected to the Mouseman workshop, have also chosen the classic Yorkshire Oak style as their own. Typical Yorkshire school items are in English Oak, with traditional pegged joints and adzed surfaces