King Charles11 & The Monarch's way, Shropshire

What a week this has been & I know the change over to a King after 70 years has been monumental - King Charles 111 on the throne. 

What do we know about the previous King Charles'? 

King Charles 1 was brought to Westminster Hall (where Queen Elizabeth now lies in State before her funeral)  after the English Civil War and he was accused of tyranny & treason, tried then executed on the 30th January 1649.  For the first time, England was without a Sovereign. It was only a matter of time before his son tried to claim the throne. In 1650-51, his son Charles faced up to the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Worcester, was defeated and he fled to Shropshire which was known to be a supportive region. 

Shropshire has a history with King Charles 11. 

He fled with a small band of loyal, Royalists soldiers & supporters & found himself at White Ladies Priory  & then Boscobel House - two local places to me & places I have visited often. 

It now forms part of the Monarch's Way which charts the King's escape. 

While at Boscobel House, he was forced to spend the night in a very large oak tree which still survives & has another grown from it in the grounds. It is a special link to history stretching back 400 years. 

Samuel Pepys, the legendary diarist who recorded details of the Great Fire of London of 1660, noted this event as such: 

he told me that it would be very dangerous either to stay in the house or go into the wood (there being a great wood hard by Boscobel) and he knew but one way how to pass all the next day and that was to get up into a great oak in a pretty plain place where we could see round about us for they would certainly search all the wood for people that had made their escape. … [We] got up into a great oak that had been lopped some 3 or 4 years before and so was grown out very bushy and thick not to be seen through. And there we sat all the day.

King Charles 11 managed to make his way to the coast eventually & on to France where he remained for 6 years until he returned to reclaim his Crown & Throne. 

Today I decided to revisit this local link to the name of King Charles - Boscobel House, then down the lane to White Ladies Priory and the Monarchs way. 

Close by is The Royal Oak pub, clearly having a strong claim to the name seen as it is close to the famous tree. 

A little history in these changing times, I hope you have enjoyed this bit of local history. Thank you to those who have shared in our national time of mourning, in this we give thanks for a long life of service of Queen Elizabeth. 

Dee ~💕~