Kingpost

This post is about a foot square and around 6ft tall. It is hand-carved from English Oak and is a roof support for the Heritage Craft barn at Stanwick Lakes. The barn is a timber framed replica of a Medieval farm building.
The carvings on opposite faces of the post show the Oak and Holly Kings from Pagan mythology. The Oak King is said to rule the waxing half of the year from Yule (the Mid-Winter solstice) to Litha (the Mid-Summer solstice). The Holly King then rules the waning half of the year from Litha to Yule.
Each is shown in the form of a Wood Spirit crowned with the leaves and berries appropriate to the tree he represents.
The carving took around 300 hours of work over 3 months to complete. The whole carving was done using traditional mallet & chisel work. Highlighting on the beards was achieved using a blowtorch to scorch the wood, while details of the eyes and the lettering was done with pyrography. The piece was then given around 25 coats of oil treatment to protect the wood and enhance its grain.
It then took 6 people and a scaffold tower to get it into place in the roof structure of the barn!