Whiteleaved Oak is a

hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, lying in a valley at the southern end of the

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit affo ...

between

Raggedstone Hill Raggedstone Hill is situated on the range of Malvern Hills that runs approximately north-south along the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border. Raggedstone Hill lies close to the borders of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. It has ...

and Chase End Hill where the counties of Herefordshire,

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

and

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

meet. It was home to a 500-year-old oak tree, which was thought to be sacred. On 9 July 2020, the tree was destroyed by a fire which broke out due to lanterns being hung on its branches.

Toponymy

In 1584 Henry Dingley, a

verderer Verderers are forestry officials in England who deal with common land in certain former royal hunting areas which are the property of the Crown. The office was developed in the Middle Ages to administer forest law on behalf of the King. Verderers ...

Malvern Chase Malvern Chase was a royal chase that occupied the land between the Malvern Hills and the River Severn in Worcestershire and extended to Herefordshire from the River Teme to Cors Forest. The following parishes and hamlets were within the Chase: ...

, wrote an account of a perambulation of the chase boundaries. Dingley noted that near the southernmost boundary of the chase grew "...a geate Oake caulled the white leved Oake

hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...

bereth white leaves." In ''The forest and chace of Malvern, its ancient & present state: with notices of the most remarkable old trees remaining within its confines'' (1877) Edwin Lees wrote:

The "White-leaved Oak" valley between the Ragged-stone and Keysend-hills, keeps in its name the memory of an oak that existed there within memory, whose leaves being variegated with white blotches, caused it to be considered a curiosity and prodigy.

In cultural life

In ''The Ley Hunter's Companion'' (1979)

Paul Devereux Paul Devereux (born 1945) is a British author, researcher, lecturer, broadcaster, artist and photographer based in the UK. Devereux is a co-founder and the managing editor of the academic publication ''Time & Mind – the Journal of Archaeology, C ...

suggested that a 10-mile alignment he called the "Malvern Ley" passed through St Ann's Well, the Wyche Cutting, a section of the Shire Ditch,

Midsummer Hill Midsummer Hill is situated in the range of Malvern Hills that runs approximately north-south along the Herefordshire-Worcestershire border. It lies to the south of Herefordshire Beacon with views to Eastnor Castle. It has an elevation of . To t ...

, Whiteleaved Oak, Redmarley D'Abitot and Pauntley. In ''City of Revelation'' (1973) British author

John Michell John Michell (; 25 December 1724 – 21 April 1793) was an English people, English natural philosophy, natural philosopher and clergyman who provided pioneering insights into a wide range of scientific fields including astronomy, geology, opti ...

suggested that Whiteleaved Oak is the centre of a circular alignment he called the “Circle of Perpetual Choirs” and is equidistant from

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

and

Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, topped by connectin ...

. The suggestion was investigated by the

British Society of Dowsers The British Society of Dowsers was founded in 1933 by Colonel A H Bell. They are a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and soc ...

and used as background material by

Phil Rickman Phil Rickman (also known under the pen names of Thom Madley and Will Kingdom) is a British author of supernatural and mystery novels. Biography Rickman was born in Lancashire in northern England and worked as a journalist for BBC World Service TV ...

in his novel ''The Remains of an Altar'' (2006). In ''Tales From Whiteleaved Oak'', Brian Haynes of Whiteleaved Oak has detailed local folklore, gossip and history which he has combined with developments in

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. The book references the

decagon In geometry, a decagon (from the Greek δέκα ''déka'' and γωνία ''gonía,'' "ten angles") is a ten-sided polygon or 10-gon.. The total sum of the interior angles of a simple decagon is 1440°. A self-intersecting ''regular decagon'' i ...

theory of John Michell, and describes how John Gibson-Forty, a

dowser Dowsing is a type of divination employed in attempts to locate ground water, buried metals or ores, gemstones, Petroleum, oil, claimed radiations (radiesthesia),As translated from one preface of the Kassel experiments, "roughly 10,000 active do ...

, followed each of the 10

ley line Ley lines () are straight alignments drawn between various historic structures and prominent landmarks. The idea was developed in early 20th-century Europe, with ley line believers arguing that these alignments were recognised by ancient socie ...

s from their centre at Whiteleaved Oak that form the decagon. Before its destruction, the oak tree was a finalist in the 'Tree of the Year' competition run by the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland Natural heritage, heritage. It has planted over 50 million trees since 1972 ...

in 2014.

References

External links

* {{authority control Villages in Herefordshire