Ox Roasted Whole At Village Fete

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 786, 5 October 1929, Page 31

Ox Roasted Whole At Village Fete

FOUR HOURS’ CARVING 500 GUESTS AT FEAST “What an ox!” Charlton-cum-Xew-bottle, an Oxfordshire village, said with loud enthusiasm, murmured it comfortably in its dreams, and will say it softly to itself at intervals for I years to come. Recently all Charlton-cum-Xew-i bottle, led by its host, Lord Birkenhead and assisted by the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, and other notable guests, consumed a whole Devon ox roasted in the open by the champion ox-roaster of Great Britain and Ireland. The ox weighed about 640ib, and was divided among 500 people, including every man, woman and child in the village, a staff of workmen who have been engaged in enlarging Lord Birkenhead’s house here, and the earl's house party. The roasted ox took four strong men four hours to carve. The entire village was invited to the fete at Camp Farm, on the site | of a Roman camp. Here swings. ! roundabouts, cocoanut-shies and all j the other “fun of the fair” were proi vided free of charge for the villagers, i who were also entertained to tea. | Tickets entitled each man guest to three pints ot beer, each woman to

a pint and two bottles of mineral water, and each child to two “minerals.” But nothing in this “Merrie England’* atmosphere fitted the picture better than the roasting and eating of the ox, which was described to a “Daily Chronicle” correspondent by Mr. H. Williams, butcher, of Kings Sutton, who supplied it, as “a lovely Devon ox, fleshy and succulent.” After it had been killed, the ox was paraded through the village on a trolley decorated with flowers, Lord and Lady Birkenhead following in a motor-car. From noon to six in the evening it was roasted on the fair ground, in the presence of the villagers, and under the supervision of Mr. Fred Tyler, who has roasted the ox at the Mop Fair at Stratford-on-Avon for the past 40 years. The carcase was tied to a long pole, and placed in front of a brickI built fireplace. One end of the pole ! was attached to a wheel which two j men revolved from time to time, j Lord Furneaux cut the first slice : of ox. | Further slices were cut by Lord and I Lady Birkenhead, and the Duke and , Duchess of Marlborough, who, like everybody else, placed portions ot' the roasted ox on slices of bread and ' ate them in the open. The Duke afterwards described it as a “wonderful ox.” and the Duchess was heard to say to him: “We must really roast an ox at Blenheim.”