The oak is the national tree of England; symbolising Strength, Longevity, Wisdom, Spirituality, Nobility and Trustworthiness. Virtues sadly currently lacking in ALL England and the UK’s leadership cliques, regardless of party affiliation.
For the Greeks, Romans, Celts, Slavs and Teutons, the mighty oak ranked first amongst venerated trees and was associated with many of the supreme gods (or high ranking deities) in each Pantheon. Oak trees are more susceptible to lightning strikes than other trees, a perceived link with the Sky Gods. This is actually due to their tree’s natural high water content and their stature; all quite logical, really.
England’s oldest oak is considered by many to be King Offa's Oak in Windsor Great Park (Berkshire), estimated to be between 1,300 and 1,500 years old. The Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire is the UK's widest oak with a 13-metre girth, it is estimated to be over 1,000 years old. Its immense hollow trunk was once used as a dining room, seating 12 people “with ease”.
An ancient 450 yera-old oak looms over my back garden; sometimes a forbidding presence it also reminds one of the continuity of life in the English Shires. It’s the home to a colony of rather cheeky squirrels, who now gather each morning for the daily handout of nuts (twenty of the critters at the last count). On June 11th, 2026, a huge part of the oak suddenly collapsed in my garden almost breaking through my drawing room windows, necessitating the urgent attendance of tree surgeons. ‘Sudden Branch Drop Syndrome’, apparently.
This occurred AFTER I had filed my Oak Tree investigation. Eerily reminiscent of the ‘evil tree’ scene in the 1982 horror movie, Poltergeist.
Poltergeist Evil Tree scene
Sherwood Forest’s Major Oak in Nottinghamshire is between 800 to 1,000 years old and linked of course to the legends of Robin Hood. It is the largest by mass, weighing around 23 tonnes. The Marton Oak in Cheshire is approximately 1,200 years old, famed for its 14-metre girth:
Hypercolius, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia CommonsThe oak has royal connections in England, probably with the last monarch to display much in the way of personality, intelligence and political acumen - Charles II. The Royal Oak was the tree in which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape Cromwell’s Roundheads after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651.
The tree standing on the site today is believed to be a two or three hundred year-old descendant of the original and is thus known as 'Son of Royal Oak'. The original tree was destroyed during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by tourists who cut off branches and chunks of bark as souvenirs.
Restoration Day, more commonly known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was an English, Welsh and Irish public holiday, observed annually on May 29th, to commemorate the restoration of the Stuart monarchy in May 1660. The public holiday was officially abolished under the Anniversary Days Observance Act 1859, but in some parts of England the day is still celebrated with gusto.
Celebrations to mark the event included the wearing of oak apples or sprigs of oak leaves. Those who failed to wear a sprig of oak were pelted with bird's eggs or beaten harshly with stinging nettles. In Sussex, those not wearing oak were liable to be pinched on the backside, giving rise to the unofficial name of "Pinch-bum Day"; similarly it was known as "Bumping Day" in Essex.
Events still take place at Aston-on-Clun in Shropshire, Great Wishford in Wiltshire, Upton-upon-Severn in Worcestershire, Marsh Gibbon in Buckinghamshire and Membury in Devon. At All Saints' Church, Northampton, a statue of Charles II is garlanded with oak leaves at noon every Oak Apple Day, followed by a celebration of the Holy Communion according to the Book of Common Prayer. Oak Apple Day is also celebrated in the Cornish village of St Neot, with a vicar led procession through the village. In 2021, Oak Apple Day was celebrated at Eton Wick within sight of Windsor Castle, one of Charles II’s many homes.
Our old friend The Green Man is always depicted wreathed in oak leaves; here he is in his most savage aspect, as shown at the beginning of BBC1’s adaptation the Kingsley Amis’ classic chiller The Green Man (1990):
Generally, the oak is regarded as a benevolent plant but, as always, there are exceptions to every rule...
The Midsummer Tree, Sussex
The Midsummer Tree, by the Grove Lodge roundabout in Broadwater: legend says that every year on Midsummer’s Eve, June 23rd, skeletons would rise from the roots of the tree and dance underneath it.
A plaque states: "This tree, believed to be over 300 years old, was once celebrated in local folklore. Every year, at Midnight on Midsummer's Eve, it was believed that skeletons would rise up from its roots and dance to the rattling of their own bones until daybreak."
In 2006, local paper The Argus reported that the tree was under threat from the Highways Agency as it was suffering from brown cubical rot. Following a campaign by neighbours and folklorists, the tree was saved by conservationist Chris Hare, who proclaimed, “This tree is a vital part of Worthing's heritage. The origin of the Midsummer Tree is to be found in England's pagan past, when Midsummer, rather than Halloween, was viewed as the most auspicious time to commune with the spirit world."
The tale of the dancing skeletons was first recorded by Sussex folklorist Charlotte Latham in 1868, writing, “There stood, and still may stand, upon the downs, close to Broadwater, an old oak-tree, that I used, in days gone by, to gaze at with an uncomfortable and suspicious look from having heard that always on Midsummer Eve, just at midnight, a number of skeletons started up from its roots, and, joining hands, danced round it till cock-crow, and then as suddenly sank down again. “My informant knew several persons who had actually seen this dance of death, but one young man in particular was named to me who, having been detained at Finden by business till very late, and forgetting that it was Midsummer Eve, had been frightened (no difficult matter we may suspect) out of his very senses by seeing the dead men capering to the rattling of their own bones.”
According to Chris Hare, there has been a gathering of would-be believers at the tree every midnight on June 23rd in recent years...
The Chained Oak, Staffordshire
Gary Rogers / Chained OakOn an autumn night in 1821, the wealthy Earl of Shrewsbury was travelling through the village of Alton on his way home to the family estate of Alton Towers. Without any warning, an old woman (or man, according to alternative versions) popped up in front of his coach, startling his horses. The coach stopped to find why she was there, and the crone pleaded for the charity of a coin. The Earl cruelly dismissed her, so she placed a curse on him, croaking, "For every branch on the Old Oak Tree here that falls... a member of the Earl’s family will die.”
The Earl wasted little time with the wittering of the wretched old woman, dismissing any talk of a curse and headed back to Alton Towers. But that very evening, whilst the Earl snored in his grand bed, a terrible storm raged, tearing a single branch from the oak tree. That same night, a member of the Earl’s family mysteriously passed away. When the Earl awoke and learned the news, he was convinced of the hag’s curse, and thereby the power of the oak. The flustered Earl immediately ordered every branch of the oak tree be bound up in chains to prevent it from falling, and to this day, the old oak remains bound by chains.
A large branch fell from the old oak in 2007, but the Earl’s descendants confirmed that no-one had perished. Sadly, some of the oak has disintegrated, in part due to the action of chains; one had rusted so much as to cause the collapse of a large part of the tree. However, most of the tree still stands.
The 16th Earl, John Talbot, appeared to have learned Scrooge-lesson of his predecessor and was widely known for his philanthropy and support of local schools and churches; earning him the nickname ‘Good Earl John’.
In modern Alton life, the story of the chained oak lives on in Alton Towers theme park, where the story has been re-written and dramatised for the ride ‘Hex – The Legend of the Towers’, a walkthrough dark ride based around the chained oak legend.
In 2014, an independent horror film based on the legend was released.
Old Knobbley, East Anglia
A notable old Oak tree has stood in Mistley, Essex for 800 years, taking anchor around the time Bad King John signed the Charter of the Forest. Named Old Knobbley, due to its lumpy appearance, the trunk is 9.5 metres wide (more than twice its height), topped by gaunt branches.
Infamous 17th-century Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins lived in nearby Manningtree, making his name torturing those accused of witchcraft to extort false confessions, killing hundreds. Village folklore says some of the accused successfully sought shelter in the hollows and branches of Old Knobbley.
This is of course unlikely, but chimes with the folklore image of trees as protectors; comforting to think of Old Knobbley doing his bit to offer sanctuary to those in extreme peril.
One does wonder why Hopkins, with his propensity for arson, didn’t just set light to the tree and settle down comfortably to watch the fun.
According to local legend, Hopkins' ghost is said to haunt Mistley Pond.
Hywel Sele was a cousin of Owain Glyndŵr, self-proclaimed Prince of Wales, but was also friend of Henry IV of England and opposed Glyndŵr’s rebellion (1400-1415). After Sele was captured by Glyndŵr he accepted a gracious invitation to hunt with the ‘Prince’ on the Nannau Estate, but, after failing to kill the rebel leader Sele was slain and sealed up within the hollow of a gnarled oak tree. The oak naturally enough, was soon haunted by his shade, becoming known as Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl ("The Hollow Oak of the Devils"), Ceubren yr Ellyll ("The Hollow Tree of the Ghost") or simply the Nannau Oak.
APPENDIX - WALES: Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl ("The Hollow Oak of the Devils")/Ceubren yr Ellyll ("The Hollow Tree of the Ghost")
In 1778 one Thomas Pennant inspected the oak and noted that it was 27 feet 6 inches (8.38 m) in girth but that it was in an advanced state of decay, resembling the shape of a gothic arch. The oak collapsed on July 13th 1813; it was said Sele’s corpse fell from within it and was supposedly buried in the ruins of Cymer Abbey.
And finally, The Oaks of Avalon
The Oaks of Avalon iare a pair of ancient 2,000 year-old oak trees in Glastonbury (Somerset), named after the ancient apocalyptic figures Gog and Magog. Believed to have been originally part of a ceremonial druidic avenue at the entrance to Glastonbury Tor/Avalon, most of which was cut down in 1906 to make way for a farm. Christian belief has Joseph of Arimathea following the row of trees towards the tor upon his arrival in Albion.
In April 2017, though already lifeless, Gog was badly damaged by an accidental fire believed to be from an incense burning candle, but was extinguished by the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service.
LINKS:
Meetings with Remarkable Trees - The Bowthorpe Oak: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSoa2N3UDD4
The Folklore of the Oak Tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rCJjJCd3ug
'Do not sit under trees', council warns park-goers: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgdly19j6yo
The English Oak: https://www.historic-uk.com/CultureUK/The-English-Oak/
Walks in Somerset: In Search of the Oaks of Avalon, Glastonbury: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNgi2dzKmxc
The Mighty Oak: https://walkingthewolds.co.uk/f/the-mighty-oak
Trees: myths and folklore: https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/school-gardening/resources/curriculum-linked/trees-myths-and-folklore
Sussex folklore explored: Worthing tree where skeletons are said to dance on Midsummer's Eve: https://www.sussexexpress.co.uk/heritage-and-retro/retro/sussex-folklore-explored-worthing-tree-where-skeletons-are-said-to-dance-on-midsummers-eve-4464732
300-year-old 'haunted' Sussex tree where skeletons 'dance' once a year: https://www.theargus.co.uk/news/24619238.worthing-story-midsummer-skeleton-tree/
Midsummer Tree Worthing, West Sussex: https://ati.woodlandtrust.org.uk/tree-search/tree/?treeId=55875#/
The Legend of Old Knobbley, East Anglia's Spookiest Tree: https://www.thorogood.co.uk/the-legend-of-old-knobbley-east-anglias-spookiest-tree/
The Legend of the Chained Oak: https://burialsandbeyond.com/2023/12/18/the-legend-of-the-chained-oak/
Old Knobbley Oak Tree: https://oldknobbley.com/
Country diary: Old Knobbley – a tree of twisted branches and even twistier myths: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/nov/10/country-diary-old-knobbley-a-tree-of-twisted-branches-and-even-twistier-myths
Sleepy Hollow - The (Oak) Tree of the Dead (1999): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72_-phtcbEw
Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyl, Nannau Park: https://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/1149879
Hywel Sele and the Demon Oak: https://geoffbrookes.co.uk/hywel-sele-and-the-demon-oak/
Broadwater Midsummer Oak Tree, Worthing, West Sussex: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6UCIXwPKzg
Ancient Glastonbury oak tree known as Gog damaged in fire: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/apr/27/ancient-glastonbury-oak-tree-known-as-gog-damaged-in-fire
People are crying as they visit 2,000-year-old tree Gog that went up in flames near Glastonbury: https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/distressed-visitors-survey-damage-2000-38464