Parliament Oak

Way back in 1290, King Edward I held Parliament at Kings Clipstone in Nottinghamshire. This was an unusual event, summoning the lords and nobles to a venue outside the capital. The retinue was accommodated at Clipstone and nearby Warsop and judging by the size of these villages, many of the staff would probably have been living in tents. To move a Parliamentary session out into the Shires was a major undertaking which required careful planning and cooperation.

To commemorate this event, a tree was planted in the forest of Sherwood between Clipstone and Mansfield, to the north of Warsop. This tree still stands today, but it is in a very dilapidated state, with the main trunk and a side trunk long since collapsed and rotting. A new tree has grown from the old root stock, perpetuating the growth, but the original tree is barely in evidence now.

This is just one of the many interesting and old trees of Sherwood Forest. (For local interest, the photograph was taken in 1976)