It isn’t only many of the 500-odd pubs called the Royal Oak that will be reopening on Monday, but also the home of the tree where Charles II famously hid.
And it has been given a makeover to restore the landscape as it was during the Civil War.
After the 21-year-old Charles was forced to flee Oliver Cromwell’s forces following defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, he took refuge in an oak tree at Boscobel House in Shropshire before spending the night in the house’s priest hole. He later fled to France, paving the way for the Restoration in 1660.
Although the original Royal Oak — in the branches of which Charles and a companion are said to have shared beer and cheese while evading the enemy searchers — is long gone, an 18th-century descendant tree known as Son of Royal Oak still stands at the site.
As part of a two-year restoration project, English Heritage has replanted the surroundings of the tree as an oak pasture. Twelve of the saplings have been grown from the original Royal Oak stock using acorns or grafting, and a further 30 from other English oaks.
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Once fully grown, the additional trees will help visitors to understand Charles’s choice of hideout as the tree where he hid would not have been as conspicuous as the solitary tree visitors have seen up to now. Equally, it would have provided a better lookout point and been less obvious as a hiding place than nearby dense woodland.
The team at Boscobel have also recreated the 17th-century gardens, where Charles, then king of Scotland and future king of England, is said to have relaxed after the soldiers had departed. An orchard has been reintegrated into the grounds, as well as beds of plants used for medicine and dyes, and flowers and vegetables of the period.
To recreate a later phase of Boscobel’s history as a Victorian farm, a number of rare and local breed animals, including Tamworth pigs and Ryeland sheep, have been introduced to the property’s cobbled farmyard and barns.
Liz Page, of English Heritage, said, “Boscobel is a unique site. It is a Civil War gem, vividly depicting one of the most iconic stories in English history. However, it later became a working farm after Charles II’s escapades and, as such, retains an extraordinary collection of Victorian farm buildings and machinery.
“This fantastic investment has enabled us to breathe life into both of these important stages in Boscobel’s history, with visitors able to explore the lodge, farmyard and gardens, as well as see a descendant of the Royal Oak in which the future king hid.”
