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Royal Oak | |
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Species | English oak ( Quercus robur ) |
Coordinates | 52°40′12″N2°14′31″W / 52.67008°N 2.24185°W |
Date seeded | Original – unknown Descendant of Royal Oak – c.1725 AD Descendant of Royal Oak – 1897 AD Descendant of Royal Oak – 1951 AD Descendant of Royal Oak – 2001 AD |
Date felled | Original – c.1725 destroyed as a result of souvenir hunters |
Custodian | Francis Yates Partners |
Website | English Heritage 'BOSCOBEL HOUSE AND THE ROYAL OAK' |
The Royal Oak was the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. Charles told Samuel Pepys in 1680 that while he was hiding in the tree, a Parliamentarian soldier passed directly below it. The story was popular after the Restoration, and is remembered every year in the English traditions of Royal Oak Day.
After the defeat of Charles' Royalist army at the hands of Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army in the Battle of Worcester, the King fled with Lord Derby, Lord Wilmot and other royalists, seeking shelter at the safe houses of White Ladies Priory and Boscobel House.
Initially, Charles was led to White Ladies Priory by Charles Giffard, a cousin of the owner, and his servant Francis Yates, the only man later executed for his part in the escape. There, the Penderel (Pendrell or Pendrill) family, tenants and servants of the Giffard family began to be important in guiding and caring for him. The King was disguised as a woodman by Charles Giffard and the Penderel family. From White Ladies, Richard Penderel led Charles in an unsuccessful attempt to cross the Severn near Madeley, Shropshire. They were forced to retrace their steps and Charles took refuge at Boscobel. On 6 September 1651, he there met with William Careless (or Carlis), a native of nearby Brewood, [1] one of the last royalists to escape the battlefield. Careless's rank is variously reported as Captain, Major and Colonel.
Careless suggested that the house was unsafe and recommended that the king hide in an oak tree in the woodlands surrounding Boscobel House. The king and Careless took some food and drink and they spent all day hiding in a pollarded oak tree which became known as the Royal Oak. From the oak they could see patrols of Parliamentary soldiers searching for the king. Later Charles spent the night hiding in one of Boscobel's priest holes. [2] He was then moved from Boscobel to Moseley Old Hall, another Catholic redoubt near Wolverhampton, and ultimately escaped the region posing as the servant of Jane Lane of Bentley, whose family were also landowners at Broom Hall and the Hyde in Brewood.
After the Restoration in 1660 Charles granted annuities to the Penderels for their services (still paid to their descendants to this day) and for Careless's help during the escape from Worcester and for other services he was made a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, and Charles, by letters patent, granted Careless the new surname of Carlos (Spanish for Charles) and a new "appropriate" coat of arms. [3] The Penderels and Colonel Careless employed coats of arms depicting an oak tree and three royal crowns, differentiated by colour. [4]
Large slipware dishes (known as 'chargers') depicting the Boscobel Oak were made by the Staffordshire potter Thomas Toft. The oak tree is shown being supported by the Lion and Unicorn, with the king's face peeping from the branches. [5]
The site of the tree is near Boscobel House, but unlike the house, is not owned by English Heritage. The field in which the tree stands is owned and farmed by Francis Yates Partners, who allow the public access along a path from the garden of the house.
The tree standing on the site today is not the original Royal Oak, which is recorded to have been destroyed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by tourists who cut off branches and chunks as souvenirs. The present day tree is believed to be a two or three hundred year-old descendant of the original and is thus known as 'Son of Royal Oak'. In 2000, Son of Royal Oak was badly damaged during a violent storm and lost many branches. In September 2010, it was found to have developed large and dangerous cracks. Since 2011 the tree has been surrounded by an outer perimeter fence to ensure the safety of visitors.
Three third generation descendants of the Royal Oak have been ceremonially planted nearby:
Saplings, certified as grown from the Son's acorns, are available from the English Heritage shop at Boscobel House.
In commemoration of the tree's significance in British history, a number of places and things have been named after the Royal Oak. For example, The Royal Oak is the third most common pub name in Britain. [6] and there have been eight warships of the Royal Navy named HMS Royal Oak.
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell defeated a largely Scottish Royalist force of 16,000 led by Charles II of England.
Boscobel House is a Grade II* listed building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. It has been, at various times, a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Today it is managed by English Heritage.
Chillington Hall is a Georgian country house near Brewood, Staffordshire, England, four miles northwest of Wolverhampton. It is the residence of the Giffard family. The Grade I listed house was designed by Francis Smith in 1724 and John Soane in 1785. The park and lake were landscaped by Capability Brown.
Boscobel is a civil parish in the east of Shropshire, England, on the border with Staffordshire. To the north is the Staffordshire village of Bishops Wood.
The Monarch's Way is a 625-mile (1,006 km) long-distance footpath in England that approximates the escape route taken by King Charles II in 1651 after being defeated in the Battle of Worcester. It runs from Worcester via Bristol and Yeovil to Shoreham, West Sussex.
Tong is a village and civil parish in Shropshire, also bordering Staffordshire in England. It is located between the towns of Shifnal, Newport and Brewood. It is near junction 3 of the M54 motorway and A41 road. The population of the village which was included in the civil parish at the 2011 census was 243. The village is also near to Weston Park and the village of Weston-under-Lizard.
Brewood is an ancient market town in the civil parish of Brewood and Coven, in the South Staffordshire district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Located around grid reference SJ883088, Brewood lies near the River Penk, eight miles north of Wolverhampton city centre and eleven miles south of the county town of Stafford. A few miles to the west of Brewood is the border with the county of Shropshire.
Jane Lane played a heroic role in the escape of Charles II in 1651 after the Battle of Worcester. She rode with Charles, disguised as her servant, from Staffordshire to Somerset.
After the final defeat of Royalists in the English Civil War against Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the future Charles II of England was forced to flee England. With the support of a network of Royalist gentry, Charles first attempted to escape into Wales, then to Bristol disguised as a servant, then to the south coast at Charmouth. Finally, he rode east to Shoreham from where he sailed for France on 15 October 1651. During the six-week flight, he passed through numerous English counties, and, perhaps most famously, at one point was forced to hide in an oak tree in the grounds of a house that was being searched by Parliamentarian soldiers. A £1000 reward had been offered for information leading to Charles's capture.
White Ladies Priory, once the Priory of St Leonard at Brewood, was an English priory of Augustinian canonesses, now in ruins, in Shropshire, in the parish of Boscobel, some eight miles (13 km) northwest of Wolverhampton, near Junction 3 of the M54 motorway. Dissolved in 1536, it became famous for its role in the escape of Charles II of England after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The name 'White Ladies' refers to the canonesses who lived there and who wore white religious habits.
Bishops Wood, or Bishopswood is a small village on the Staffordshire border with Shropshire. It is home to the Royal Oak public house, the first to be named after the nearby oak tree at Boscobel House in which King Charles II hid after the Battle of Worcester. The population for this village taken at the 2011 census can be found under Brewood and Coven. Bishop's Wood is a 352 hectare wood 4 miles west north west of Eccleshall, Staffordshire.
Colonel William Careless was a Royalist officer of the English Civil War. It has been estimated in various written sources that he was born c. 1620, however, it is more likely that he was born c. 1610. He was the second son of John Careless of Broom Hall, Brewood, Staffordshire, and his wife Ellen Fluit. He is chiefly remembered as the companion of King Charles II when the fugitive monarch hid in the Royal Oak following his defeat at the Battle of Worcester. His surname was changed to Carlos, the Spanish for Charles, by order of Charles II. He died in 1689.
Sir Francis Wyndham, 1st Baronet of Trent, Dorset was an English soldier and politician who sat in the House of Commons of England at various times from 1640 until his death in 1676. During the First English Civil War, he served as a colonel in the Royalist army and helped Charles II of England escape to France after his defeat in the 1651 Third English Civil War.
This is a timeline for the English Civil War in Shropshire.
Black Ladies Priory was a house of Benedictine nuns, located about 4 km west of Brewood in Staffordshire, on the northern edge of the hamlet of Kiddemore Green. Founded in the mid-12th century, it was a small, often struggling, house. It was dissolved in 1538, and a large house was built on the site in Tudor and Jacobean styles by the Giffard family of Chillington Hall. Much of this is incorporated in the present Black Ladies, a large, Grade II*-listed, private residence.
John Gavan was an English Jesuit. He was a victim of the fabricated Popish Plot, and was wrongfully executed for conspiracy to murder King Charles II. He was beatified in 1929 by Pope Pius XI.
Sir John Giffard, of Chillington in Brewood, was a soldier, courtier, member of the English Parliament and Staffordshire landowner, who made his mark mainly during the reign of Henry VIII.
Richard Penderel was a Roman Catholic farmer, and a supporter of the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. He assisted with the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in September 1651.
Thomas Whitgrave was the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire for the First, Second and Third Protectorate parliaments who was knighted by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell in 1658. He was also considered as a potential recipient Knight of the Royal Oak, a reward to those Englishmen who faithfully and actively supported Charles II during his exile in France.
William Pendrill was a Roman Catholic and royalist in the English Civil War.