An Arts & Crafts Yorkshire School English Oak Dresser by Lyndon 'Cat & Mouseman' Hammell (Ex-Mouseman) c 1970. A very attractive and useful dresser in the classic Yorkshire School style. 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 two continuous pieces of quarter-sawn solid oak with button screwed fixing and adzed finish.

• Two drawers (made with single plank fronts solid drawer carcasses joined with hand-cut lap and through dovetail).

• Two doors with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with pegs.

• Sides and back all made with single plank fielded panels surrounded by rails and stiles joined by blind tenons secured with pegs.

• Two shelf top.

• Can be separated into 2 parts for easy transportation.

Approximate dimensions are:

• Overall Height 1780mm (5 feet 10 inches).

• Overall Width 1390mm (4 feet 6 1/2 inches).

• Overall Depth 450mm (1 foot 5 1/2 inches).

c 1970.

Lyndon Hammel's signature carved Cat & Mouse motif.

Very good condition with good colour and grain, original finish, snugly closing doors, smoothly sliding drawers and tight joints. Three of the feet have chipped edges. A few minor marks and dints discoverable upon close inspection, although surprisingly few for the age of the item. 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.

A former apprentice who served 10 years at Robert 'Mouseman' Thompson's workshop, before setting up his own business in 1979 based at Harmby, Wensleydale. He makes high quality Yorkshire School furniture in English oak to his own distinctive designs.

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.