We have just renewed our membership to English Heritage and Bocobel House was our first visit of the new season to one of their properties. We had visited quite a few years ago when we first moved over to this side of the country and thought it was about time we went back.
Boscobel is one of the two houses on the borders of Staffordshire and Shropshire to be associated with the escape of Charles II after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. You may remember that we visited the other house Moseley Old Hall, a National Trust property, in June last year - here is a link to the post I wrote then so you can, if you wish, see the two places together.
The property has had many different uses over the years. It was built in 1632 on land formerly belonging to Whiteladies Priory as a farmhouse and later it was converted into a hunting lodge by its owner John Gifford. At the time of the English Civil Wars Boscobel was owned by the Gifford family with the Penderel family living there as their tenants and servants.
The Giffords were a Roman
Catholic family living at a time of religious persecution and it is
thought that the real reason for the building of the house was to serve
as a secret place of shelter for Catholics in times of need.
As you can see there is a lot of conservation work being carried out but the volunteer we spoke to as we wandered around inside the house told us that it would soon be completed and the scaffolding and covers would be taken down.
You can see part of the knot garden in the photo above.
You can see part of the knot garden in the photo above.
Of course Boscobel is famous for its oak tree, known as the Royal Oak, as Charles II hid in the tree on his first night at Boscobel. He also hid in the priest's hole inside the house. The tree the visitor sees today is a descendant of the original tree having been grown from an acorn from the first tree.
Above are some photos of the inside the old farmhouse. In this part of the house the light was a bit too dull to take many good photographs and, of course, no flash was allowed. Bottom left you can see the priest's hole where Charles II hid whilst at Boscobel. Most of the interior is panelled in dark wood and furnished as it would have been in Victorian times. This links in with Victorian farm buildings and kitchens also on the site.
There was a dairy and a scullery, with displays on the making and storing of butter and cheese.
Above the barn and stables and some of the residents of the buildings and farm yard.
The Boscobel estate eventually came into the ownership of the Fitzherbert family of Norbury Hall in Derbyshire who let it to tenants including the Penderels. It was sold to Walter Evans a Derbyshire industrialist in 1812 and it was the Evans family who restored the hall and perpetuated the story of Charles II in their own, unique way. Boscobel was sold in 1918 to the Earl of Bradford who placed it and the tree in the care of the Ministry of Works which later became English Heritage.
The Boscobel estate eventually came into the ownership of the Fitzherbert family of Norbury Hall in Derbyshire who let it to tenants including the Penderels. It was sold to Walter Evans a Derbyshire industrialist in 1812 and it was the Evans family who restored the hall and perpetuated the story of Charles II in their own, unique way. Boscobel was sold in 1918 to the Earl of Bradford who placed it and the tree in the care of the Ministry of Works which later became English Heritage.
Looks like a fascinating place. I've never been. The dairy looks really interesting.
ReplyDeleteI loved the light airiness of the dairy after the gloomy inside of the farmhouse:)
DeleteIt was great to see this place again - I remember enjoying looking around the dairy. We visited just a little later in the year, June I think, and I remember there being a couple of outbuildings roofs covered in swallows -a adult and young ones!
ReplyDeleteAs I gazed out of the window in the room above the dairy I was convinced I'd seen just one swallow flit by but it seems so early. I wonder if some stayed here due to the mild winter weather and availability of insect food?:)
DeleteIt has an interesting history Rosie, as well as having my favourite rose named after it!
ReplyDeleteIt is a lovely rose isn't it? I've seen them just down the road from Boscobel at the David Austin rose gardens at Albrighton:)
DeleteLooks a interesting and lovely place to visit, must try this year to visit some Heritage sites..
ReplyDeleteAmanda xx
It is a great place and very interesting, we are planning which property to visit next:)
DeleteAnother interesting post Rosie. How I miss that sense of history and the beautiful properties managed by English Heritage and the National Trust! Hope you get to visit lots of places in the coming year.
ReplyDeleteI hope so too, Marie. We are planning to perhaps visit an area we haven't been before and take in as many properties as we can later in the year:)
DeleteI am so glad they are doing conservation work. Boscobel looked so tired last time I visited. I am a local and I have visited often. I remember the time when the guides were allowed to place children carfully in the priest hiding places :-)
ReplyDeleteOh, gosh they wouldn't be allowed now would they? The hole is covered in glass and lit from below now. We hadn't been for a while as we'd read that work was being done and scaffolding was up. We thought it might have been taken down by now but it seems it won't be there much longer. The two pannelled rooms dowstairs were looking a bit neglected:)
DeleteWhat a lot of history in this house. In your opinion, should someone visiting England buy memberships in both the National Trust and English Heritage?
ReplyDeleteI've e-mailed you with links to overseas visitor passes for both the EH and NT, but of course it depends what part of the UK you will be visiting and for how long as other properties are in private hands or government run and will have their own charges and opening times etc:)
DeleteA wonderfully interesting post and some great photos. Looks a superb place to visit. In fact, I've just checked google maps and its less than an hour from here. It has a fascinating history and good to see the replacement oak was grown from an acorn of the original tree :)
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting and there are also the ruins of White Ladies Priory just 20 minutes walk across the fields from there too. It is set in lovely countryside:)
DeleteI hope you get some good use out of your English heritage membership in the year ahead Rosie. Interesting story about the oak tree. I wonder if the new tree really is a descendant of the original? x
ReplyDeleteI think it has been verified that it did come from the original tree which was then, of course in the middle of thick woods and not the grassed field and open space we see now. I hope we can visit a few properties this year as the memberships are quite expensive but very useful to have, especially whilst on holiday:)
DeleteI am fascinated by Charles the second so found your post fascinating. During his exile he spent some of his time in Jersey before moving to France. I always loved the story of him hiding in the oak tree. B x
ReplyDeleteHis companion in the tree was called William Careless and he is buried in a nearby churchyard. Charles II is a fascinating character isn't he? I didn't know he'd spent some of his exile on Jersey so that was fascinating to know:)
DeleteYou do find such interesting places to visit. I like half-timbered buildings and I prefer farmhouses to mansions. Would love to have a knot garden.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be wonderful to have a knot garden? It is a very historic place, quite small but has a lovely atmosphere, especially in the knot garden:)
DeleteHow interesting. I suppose the original tree must have been quite big for him to hide in, hopefully he removed his wig first! :-)
ReplyDeleteHehe, yes a wig would have been a problem but I think as a younger man he wore his own hair long. In fact I think they cut it shorter during his escape in disguise. Those periwigs became fashionable after he returned to the throne. The original tree would have been huge and in the middle of the woods around the house, he had a companion up in the tree with him, a local royalist called William Careless:)
DeleteLovely photos of such an interesting place. It's fascinating to see where the story of the Boscobel Oak and Charles II actually took place. I love the old dairy and scullery, too.
ReplyDeleteI always love the kitchens and working areas of these places as no doubt that would have been where I would have been had I lived and worked at that time. I think I read somewhere he spent his birthday 29th May up in the tree hence Oak Apple Day being on that date:)
DeleteWhat a beautiful and fascinating building! Thank you for taking us along, I really enjoyed it and am glad that you did too! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks, Amy - yes it is a fascinating place and I enjoyed being there especially in the warm sunshine:)
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