The Remedy Oak

Today is the start of National Tree Week 2014.

The Remedy Oak is some 800 years old.

It's girth at 1.15 metres is 6.42 m.

The other side of the tree is completely hollow and is home to a variety of fungi, ferns, mosses, etc, but this view shows the tree off in all its glory.

It is held up by two wire stays without which it would surely fall over.

It is said that the young Boy King who came to the throne at 9 years old, King Edward VI (1537 - 1553), sat beneath this tree at age 15.

He was "touched for Kings Evil"

Scrofula, any variety of skin disease, particularly a form of tuberculosis affecting the lymph nodes of the neck has, historically, been known as “Kings Evil”. This refers to the method of treatment many sufferers used right up to the reign of Charles II. It was believed that the touch of the sovereign of England or France, could cure the disease. The kings were thought to have received this power due to their descent from Edward the Confessor, who, according to some legends, received it from Saint Remigius.