The English folk legend of a shire oak, under the spreading limbs of which the ancient Anglo-Saxon open-air folkmoots and things were held, [1] is a feature of Merry England:
"In olden times the rude hustings, with its noisy surging crowds, was the old popular mode of appeal to the people, voter and voteless, a remnant of Saxon times when men gathered under the shire-oak..." [2]
The Shire Oak legendarium has resulted in a number of toponyms in present-day England. Oaks were often markers where three shires came together, as "Three-shire Oaks" at some of the tripoints of England.
In Essex, a venerable "shire oak" was identified at Kelvedon. [3] Shire Oak is a section of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in which county the Shire-Oak Colliery was excavated near Worksop.
Shire Oak School is in Walsall Wood, West Midlands, where there is a Shire Oak Quarry and a Shire Oak Reservoir, [4] and there are numerous examples in England of a "Shire Oak Road" or "Shire Oak Street".
Providing a suitably Anglophone toponym, Shire Oak is a neighborhood of San Antonio, Texas and Shireoak Drive is a road in Houston.
The Kingdom of the East Saxons, today referred to as the Kingdom of Essex, was one of the seven traditional kingdoms of the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. It was founded in the 6th century and covered the territory later occupied by the counties of Essex, Hertfordshire, Middlesex and Kent. Kings of Essex were frequently subservient to foreign overlords. The last king of Essex was Sigered and in 825, he ceded the kingdom to Ecgberht, King of Wessex.
A shire is a traditional term for a division of land, found in Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and some other English-speaking countries. It was first used in Wessex from the beginning of Anglo-Saxon settlement, and spread to most of the rest of England in the tenth century. In some rural parts of Australia, a shire is a local government area; however, in Australia it is not synonymous with a "county", which is a lands administrative division.
East Anglia is a geographical area in the East of England. The area included has varied but the legally defined NUTS 2 statistical unit comprises the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, including the City of Peterborough unitary authority area. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a tribe whose name originated in Anglia, northern Germany.
The London Borough of Waltham Forest is a London borough in northeast London, England.
The historic counties of England are areas that were established for administration by the Normans, in many cases based on earlier kingdoms and shires created by the Anglo-Saxons and others. They are alternatively known as ancient counties, traditional counties, former counties or simply as counties. In the centuries that followed their establishment, as well as their administrative function, the counties also helped define local culture and identity. This role continued even after the counties ceased to be used for administration after the creation of administrative counties in 1889, which were themselves amended by further local government reforms in the years following.
Maldon is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is most renowned for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced in the area.
Wing, known in antiquated times as Wyng, is a village and civil parish in Aylesbury Vale district in Buckinghamshire, England. The village is on the main A418 road between Aylesbury and Leighton Buzzard. It is about 8 miles (13 km) north east of Aylesbury, 3 miles (5 km) west of Leighton Buzzard, and 12 miles (19 km) south of Milton Keynes.
Coggeshall is a small town of 4,727 residents in Essex, England, between Colchester and Braintree on the Roman road of Stane Street, and intersected by the River Blackwater. Although Coggeshall has a market and is a market town, the vast majority of the residents, some of whom are third or fourth generation Coggeshall, insist on referring to it as a village. The population increased to 4,727 at the 2011 Census. It is known for its almost 300 listed buildings and formerly extensive antique trade. Many local businesses, such as the White Hart Hotel and the Chapel Inn, have been established for hundreds of years. A market has been run every week on Market Hill since 1256, when a charter to do so was granted by Henry III.
The River Blackwater is a river in Essex, England.
Anglo-Saxon law is a body of written rules and customs that were in place during the Anglo-Saxon period in England, before the Norman conquest. This body of law, along with early Scandinavian law and Germanic law, descended from a family of ancient Germanic custom and legal thought. However, Anglo-Saxon law codes are distinct from other early Germanic legal statements – known as the leges barbarorum, in part because they were written in Anglo-Saxon instead of in Latin. The laws of the Anglo-Saxons were the second in medieval Western Europe after those of the Irish to be expressed in a language other than Latin.
Essex is a county in the East of England which originated as the ancient Kingdom of Essex and one of the seven kingdoms, or heptarchy, that went on to form the Kingdom of England.
Feering is a village and civil parish in the Braintree district of Essex, England. The parish is between Colchester and Witham. The village, which lies at the south-west edge of the parish, is conjoined to the neighbouring village of Kelvedon. Within the parish are the hamlets of Stocks Green, Skye Green and Langley Green.
Kelvedon is a village and civil parish in the Braintree District of Essex in England, between Chelmsford and Colchester. It had a population of 4,717 in 2001, reducing to 3,587 at the 2011 Census. It is now home to several businesses including Knight Group and Lysanda. Brockwell Meadows Local Nature Reserve is south-east of the village between a housing estate and the River Blackwater.
Burwood Park is a residential estate in Hersham, Surrey in the United Kingdom. It consists of approximately 400 detached houses dating from the early 20th century to the present day. Its roads are a geometric design within an approximate semicircle and many of its roads have entrances with automatic bollards or security buildings.
Tolleshunt D'Arcy is a village and civil parish in the county of Essex in the East of England. The parish has a parish council, and lies within the area of Maldon District Council.
Penenden Heath is a suburb in the town of Maidstone in Kent, England. As the name suggests it is nucleated around a former heath.
Hatfield Broad Oak is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England. The village is approximately 5 miles (8 km) south-east of Bishop's Stortford. Near the church of St Mary the Virgin is former Benedictine priory Hatfield Regis Priory.
John Doreward was a Serjeant-at-law and Speaker of the House of Commons of England.
Essex is a county in the south-east of England, north-east of London. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and London to the south-west. The county town is Chelmsford, the only city in the county. For government statistical purposes Essex is placed in the East of England region.
The Roman River is a river that flows entirely through the English county of Essex. It is a tributary of the River Colne, flowing into its tidal estuary below Colchester. The lower end of the Roman River is also tidal, with tidal water flowing upstream to just above Fingringhoe.
