Lost woodland to be replanted with DNA from descendants of oaks that hid king

AN oak pasture which once hid an English king in the defeat of battle is to be repopulated with DNA from the direct descendants of the trees that shielded him.

King Charles ll famously hid in the woodland at Shropshire’s Boscobel House following defeat in the English Civil War of 1651.

Now, with the help of master propagator Nick Dunns, English Heritage is preparing to replant the lost woodland that surrounded his hiding place with pollarded trees. The organisation hopes to introduce the direct DNA descendents of the original Royal Oak, now in its second incarnation and despite its grand old age.

Healthy shoots are being collected from the crown of estate trees to propagate, and work to replant will begin next autumn.

The original Royal Oak had sat in a woodland of such pollarded trees at Boscobel, which drew its name from the Italian phrase bosco bello meaning “in the midst of fair woods”. King Charles had sought refuge within in’s boughs after a failed attempt to regain the thrown following his father’s execution, fleeing for his life after defeat at Worcester.

Another tree, from the same genetic stock, exists in the form of the “Victoria Oak” which was planted in 1897 on the western edge of the garden by Augustus Legge, then Bishop of Lichfield, to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria.