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ANCIENT OAKS
English Oak, Quercus robur, has become a national emblem from its perceived characteristics of endurance and steadfastness. British warships were traditionally made of heart of oak as it was the strongest wood from the tree. Heart of Oak is the official march of the Royal Navy. The words were written by the English actor David Garrick, as part of an opera and the music by Dr William Boyce was first performed in 1760 at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane.
There are many famous ancient oak trees throughout the United Kingdom which have played a part in English history. In West Dartmoor we have two examples, the ‘Honour’ and ‘Royal’ oaks.
HONOUR OAK TREE WHITCHURCH
The Honour Oak tree on Whitchurch road is thought to be at least 500 years old. It marks the limit to which French prisoners on parole in Tavistock, were allowed to walk from the centre of town. These parole prisoners, from the wars with France, 1809 to 1815, would have been sent to the Dartmoor Depot war prisons, Princetown, then named, Princes Town. They were then allocated to various towns around Dartmoor, which acted as parole depots.
French army and navy officers lived freely on parole in these towns, provided they adhered to certain conditions, which they agreed to honour. Those officers paroled in Tavistock had to limit their excursions to one mile from the centre of the town. This coincided with the last oak in a row of trees on Whitchurch road, which was then the main route to Plymouth. This tree became known as the ‘Honour Oak’ tree, and before 1935 marked the boundary between Tavistock and Whitchurch parishes.
The plaque on the tree, which may have been put up in the 1960s, reads:
’Marked boundary of French prisoners on parole in Tavistock from Princetown during the Napoleonic war (1803-14) also where money was deposited in exchange for food during a cholera outbreak in 1832’.
In 2014, the accuracy of this statement was questioned and it was suggested that it should be amended to reflect more accurately the dates of the Napoleonic wars (1809-16). But the parole system had been established from eighteenth century conflicts, when French and Spanish prisoners were paroled in Tavistock from prisons in Plymouth and prison ships on the Tamar.
The Honour Oak tree was also the place where money was deposited in exchange for food, during a cholera outbreak in 1832. Tavistock was quarantined, for fear of infection, and people left money at the oak tree in exchange for food and other supplies.
ROYAL OAK AT MEAVY
This ancient Oak tree, at Meavy village green, said to have been planted in the reign of King John (1166-1216), may be over 800 years old. It is the centre of the Meavy Oak Fair, which is held on the third Saturday in June, near St Peter’s day. Records from the 1800s state that during this festival the tree was surrounded with poles and a platform erected on top of the flat, clipped, top branches. This was reached by a ladder or stairs, and various reports suggest that musicians, dancers or diners used the platform.
In 1899, Sabine Baring-Gould, the rector of Lew Trenchard, described a platform placed under the canopy of the tree, to which musicians climbed by a ladder to play their instruments for villagers to dance on the green at Meavy Oak Fair.
The trunk has been hollow for at least 150 years, as William Crossing quotes a poem of 1826 by Carrington, that nine people once dined inside the trunk of the tree, guests of the hostess of the inn. The Royal Oak inn takes its name from the ancient hollow oak tree, and a place where the innkeeper stored peat turves for fuel.
There is a legend that Charles II hid in the tree, when he was chased by Cromwell’s men, hence the name ‘Royal’ Oak, but it is doubtful that is was this tree. Similar legends are associated with other royal oak trees around the country, most famously the Boscobel Oak in Shropshire. Royal Oak day is celebrated on 29 May each year, to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy, in 1660.
The Meavy Royal Oak was also used as a ‘gospel’ oak, where preachers would conduct services, under the shelter of its branches. Priests would ride around the country preaching to villages without a church, and also perform baptisms and marriages. Small villages could not always afford a church until there was a rich benefactor. A church at Meavy was built in 1122, and later dedicated to St Peter, as the village fair is held in June near the saint’s feast day.
The preaching (or village) cross, close to the Royal Oak tree, was the forerunner of the village church. Although more than 13 ft tall it is dwarfed by the Meavy Royal Oak behind it. Boys used to ride bicycles, through the hollow Meavy Oak tree, but it is now surrounded by a protective railing. The adjacent tree, grown as a successor, from an acorn, from the ancient Royal Oak tree was planted in 1920. A recent appeal suggests that saplings should be grown from the acorns of the original oak tree to ensure its continuity into the future.
Dr Ann Pulsford