Corn Dolly Making

Join us for a day of Corn Dolly Making at the Rural Life Living Museum!

Find out exactly what a Corn Dolly is. Discover some of the myths, legends and stories associated with this traditional craft. Learn how to plait the straw to form various Corn Dollies. After an introductory talk you will learn how to make a simple Country Man’s Favour and then how to plait the more complicated Ceres Wand.

Judy, the course leader, has been a volunteer at the museum for many years and nearly fifty years ago the museum founder, Henry Jackson was concerned that the older craft demonstrators at the museum were dying out. He suggested she learnt a craft so that such demonstrations could continue into the future. With a natural interest in countryside traditions, she decided to learn how to make Corn Dollies. That’s how her crafting story began.