Original Oak in Headingley

[Chrism]

drapesy wrote: I think there is or was something in the original oak pub too - a carving of King Charles IIRC. King Charles,according to Legend, hid in an oak tree - unfortunately the legend does not record where so it came about that for every every old oak tree from Land's end to Carlisle there are claims King Charles hid in it . This is also why the pub name 'Royal Oak' came about Just like Mary Queen of Scots was held prisoner in nearly every castle and manor house in the same vicinity.

[LS1]

That was Charles II though, but not until 1651 after his dad Charles I had been executed. Think he was fleeing to France if I remember rightly.

[Uno Hoo]

LS1 wrote: That was Charles II though, but not until 1651 after his dad Charles I had been executed. Think he was fleeing to France if I remember rightly. AFAIK after the Battle of Worcester, Prince Charles, later Charles II, hid from the Parliamentarians in an oak tree at Boscobel, Shropshire. It's quite near Wolverhampton. The alleged tree is protected by iron railings, although, of course, how anyone knows which was the actual tree is debatable. But I thought it is generally agreed that Boscobel is "the" site of the actual Royal Oak.

[tilly]

Then of course Robin Hood hid in one seems to me a lot of people were hideing in oak trees in the past.LOL

[Greeno108]

I thought an acorn had been taken from the Original Oak and planted where the war memorial now stands. When they decided to build the memorial (I think in the early 1920s), they had to uproot the 'new' tree, much to the annoyance of the Thoresby Society, who wanted the original preserving if this 'new' tree was to be lost. I think they then planted the other acorn as already mentioned in St Michael's churchyard, which didn't grow. I know the Original Oak collapsed in 1941 (the Council had wanted to prop it up but couldn't get any metal to do so because of the war effort).There is a carving of Madonna and Child in St Michael's, made from a piece of the oak, as well as bits of it in the pub. At some point in the 1950s the oak that stands near the pub was planted and the plaque put into the wall.I've just recently finished reading a book by Eveleigh Bradford called 'Headingley: This Pleasant Rural Village,' which has a chapter on the oak, hence why I can remember the above!

[Leeds Hippo]

Greeno108 wrote: I thought an acorn had been taken from the Original Oak and planted where the war memorial now stands. When they decided to build the memorial (I think in the early 1920s), they had to uproot the 'new' tree, much to the annoyance of the Thoresby Society, who wanted the original preserving if this 'new' tree was to be lost. I think they then planted the other acorn as already mentioned in St Michael's churchyard, which didn't grow. I know the Original Oak collapsed in 1941 (the Council had wanted to prop it up but couldn't get any metal to do so because of the war effort).There is a carving of Madonna and Child in St Michael's, made from a piece of the oak, as well as bits of it in the pub. At some point in the 1950s the oak that stands near the pub was planted and the plaque put into the wall.I've just recently finished reading a book by Eveleigh Bradford called 'Headingley: This Pleasant Rural Village,' which has a chapter on the oak, hence why I can remember the above! That's very interesting - I wonder what the earliest reference is to the original (Skyrack) oak. Looking around the web seems to suggest meetings were held there since Viking times - quote from the Thoresby site:"The coming of the Vikings saw Yorkshire divided into thirdings or 'ridings.' These were subdivided into wapentakes where the local assembly met. The villages south of the Aire; Armley, Beeston, Farnley, Hunslet and the rest were part of the Morley wapentake. Those to the north, like Leeds and Cookridge, were in the Skyrack wapentake which met at the old oak tree in Headingley"

[Leeds Hippo]

tilly wrote: Then of course Robin Hood hid in one seems to me a lot of people were hideing in oak trees in the past.LOL I must say as a kid that I never found oak trees very easy to climb. The trunks at too thick and the bark too rough - I think there are much easier trees to climb and hide in.

[Si]

Greeno108 wrote: I thought an acorn had been taken from the Original Oak and planted where the war memorial now stands. When they decided to build the memorial (I think in the early 1920s), they had to uproot the 'new' tree, much to the annoyance of the Thoresby Society, who wanted the original preserving if this 'new' tree was to be lost. I think they then planted the other acorn as already mentioned in St Michael's churchyard, which didn't grow. I know the Original Oak collapsed in 1941 (the Council had wanted to prop it up but couldn't get any metal to do so because of the war effort).There is a carving of Madonna and Child in St Michael's, made from a piece of the oak, as well as bits of it in the pub. At some point in the 1950s the oak that stands near the pub was planted and the plaque put into the wall.I've just recently finished reading a book by Eveleigh Bradford called 'Headingley: This Pleasant Rural Village,' which has a chapter on the oak, hence why I can remember the above! Said book.I don't know the date of the cover illustration (could be modern?) but the oak appears to be in leaf, and therefore not dead.    

[Leeds Hippo]

Si wrote: Greeno108 wrote: I thought an acorn had been taken from the Original Oak and planted where the war memorial now stands. When they decided to build the memorial (I think in the early 1920s), they had to uproot the 'new' tree, much to the annoyance of the Thoresby Society, who wanted the original preserving if this 'new' tree was to be lost. I think they then planted the other acorn as already mentioned in St Michael's churchyard, which didn't grow. I know the Original Oak collapsed in 1941 (the Council had wanted to prop it up but couldn't get any metal to do so because of the war effort).There is a carving of Madonna and Child in St Michael's, made from a piece of the oak, as well as bits of it in the pub. At some point in the 1950s the oak that stands near the pub was planted and the plaque put into the wall.I've just recently finished reading a book by Eveleigh Bradford called 'Headingley: This Pleasant Rural Village,' which has a chapter on the oak, hence why I can remember the above! Said book.I don't know the date of the cover illustration (could be modern?) but the oak appears to be in leaf, and therefore not dead.     Seemingly the image is from 1810 - artist unknownRef:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Headingley-This ... 0376Wonder if this is the earliest image of the oak?

[Trojan]

There's more Secret Leeds stuff about the oak here:http://www.secretleeds.com/forum/Messag ... ighLight=1