An Oak for a Lion

I have a favourite oak tree. It's this lovely old thing with four sturdy trunks. Quite how it grew this way, I can't say but it is truly magnificent. And it's wonderful to watch how constant it remains as the world around it transforms with the seasons. All that changes is the colour of its leaves.

If I had to choose a symbol for England I'd choose an oak leaf.

I've always found our choice of a lion to be very odd - an animal that doesn't come from here. Okay, so there were once big native cave lions - around 25% bigger than African lions - in the UK. But they died out 12-14,000 years ago. Still, I suppose it's marginally better than having a mascot that doesn't actually exist - like Scotland's unicorn or Wales' dragon. Ireland doesn't really have an equivalent (as it has a harp) but older heraldic crests depict an Irish elk. Which, like the English lion, is also extinct. Even my native Cornwall made the decision to include a chough in the county's coat of arms - a bird that has had to be reintroduced in recent years after the wild population crashed to zero.

Surely the oak is better choice? It stands for strength and durability. It also boasts of independence - the oak tree is one of just a handful of tree species that can flourish alone without any other oaks nearby. It's long been associated with protection too and not just because of the sturdiness of the wood it produces. People believed that having oak doors and acorns on windowsills would protect your house from lightning strikes - a leftover from this is that, to this day, window blinds and ceiling lights are often sold with acorn-shaped pulls.

The Celts venerated the oak and the Druids held some of their rituals in oak groves. It's been suggested that the word 'Druid' may be derived from the old Gaelic words deru ("tree," especially oak) and wid ("to know"). The Druids were literally the 'Knowers of the Oak'. Mistletoe was one of the Druids’ most potent and magical plants and it frequently grows on oak trees. Its presence was believed to indicate the hand of God having placed it there in a lightning strike.  'Faerie folks are in old oaks', as the saying goes and, of course, most common depictions of The Green Man - the ancient embodiment of the forest - show him peering out through the oak leaves that grow from his face and head. Here's the one that hangs in my study.

More than any other tree, individual oaks often have stories attached to them. The largest oak in a village was often called the 'King Oak' and many parishes had a 'Gospel Oak' - a prominent tree where part of the Gospel was read out during the Beating of the Bounds ceremonies at Rogantide in Spring. 

One such tree gave its name to an area of the London Borough of Camden. The oak in question marked the boundary between the parishes of Hampstead and St Pancras, and was said to be situated on the corner of Mansfield Road and Southampton Road. The oak vanished sometime in the 1800s and was last recorded on a map of the area in 1801. Monty Python comedian Michael Palin did plant a new oak in 1998 but it didn't survive, sadly.

 

In Somerset you'll find the the ancient 'Oaks of Avalon', named Gog and Magog after the last male and female giants to roam Britain. Meanwhile, The Major Oak in Sherwood Forest is purported to be the tree where Robin Hood and his Merry Men hatched their plots. And in 1651, after the battle of Worcester, the future King Charles II is said to have hidden from the Roundheads in a large oak at Boscobel. In 1660 he instigated the 29th of May as Royal Oak Day (sometimes called Oakapple Day) to celebrate the restoration of the monarchy. 

On a more practical note, oak leaves and bark contain a great deal of tannin so they were used in leather tanning and dyeing. The tannin also means that you can make a very nice dry white country wine from oak leaves - green or brown. Oak galls produce a black substance that can be used as ink, and the acorns can be used to make a flour (though you need to leach out most of the tannin first as it is toxic in high concentrations). You just collect some ripe (brown) acorns, shell them and then soak them in water. The water will turn brown, so drain and refill with fresh. After several changes of water it will remain clear. It's then safe to chop them up and dry them in a low heat oven. Then you can blitz them up and use as flour. You can also make a tasty caffeine-free acorn 'coffee' by roasting the chopped acorns until they go brown and then pounding them into a powder. Or just roast the chunks and sprinkle with salt as an alternative to peanuts.

I walk past this tree almost every day and it's hard not to resist stroking its wonderful textured surface. It reminds me of the skin of that other great gentle giant - the elephant.

Which brings me back to another African animal - the lion - and why I find it puzzling to see it used as an emblem of England.

Surely the long-lived, strong and powerful oak is a far better metaphor for English steadfastness and solidity?