The Shire Oak was an ancient tree that stood in

Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...

, now a suburb of the city of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. It is thought to date from the time of the

Danelaw The Danelaw (, ; ; ) was the part of History of Anglo-Saxon England, England between the late ninth century and the Norman Conquest under Anglo-Saxon rule in which Danes (tribe), Danish laws applied. The Danelaw originated in the conquest and oc ...

in 9th-century England and is a

shire oak The English folk legend of a shire oak, under the spreading limbs of which the ancient Anglo-Saxon open-air folkmoots and '' things'' were held, is a feature of Merry England: "In olden times the rude hustings, with its noisy surging crowds, was ...

, a tree that was used as a meeting point for local assemblies. The

wapentake A hundred is an administrative division that is geographically part of a larger region. It was formerly used in England, Wales, some parts of the United States, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and in Cumberland County in the British Colony of ...

(Danish local assembly) in this area was known as the Skyrack wapentake after the tree. The Shire Oak was felled by winds in 1941 and a plaque now marks the place in which it once stood.

History

Wapentakes of the West Riding of Yorkshire

Headingley has its origins in a Danish settlement established in the late 9th century, that formed part of the

. The settlement formed part of the Skyrack Wapentake (an administrative division similar to the Anglo-Saxon hundred) and it is believed that the

assembly met at the Shire Oak. Meetings at

s were common across England at this time. The Skyrack Wapentake is thought to have taken its name from the association with the tree (which would have been referred to as the ''scīr āc'' in the language of the time), as most wapentakes were named after their meeting place. The Skyrack Wapentake would have met regularly to resolve legal disputes, make decisions and to muster for war. Local legend dates the tree even earlier, to the time of the ancient British druids, who were said to have revered the tree. As Headingley grew the oak was incorporated into Otley Road and Saint Michael's Church was constructed to the south of it. Two pubs opposite the church, the Skyrack and the Original Oak were both named after the tree. A drawing of the tree was made circa 1700, at which time it was described as ancient and Edward Parsons, writing in 1834, described it as already 1,000 years old. However, by the late 19th century the Shire Oak had decayed to little more than a stump and it fell during a gale on 26 May 1941. The remains of the tree were removed, but part was sculpted by the "Mouseman" Robert Thompson into the likeness of the

Madonna and child In Christian art, a Madonna () is a religious depiction of the Blessed Virgin Mary in a singular form or sometimes accompanied by the Child Jesus. These images are central icons for both the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. The word ...

, which is now displayed in St Michael's Church. A commemorative plaque marking the position of the oak is mounted to the garden wall of the Original Oak pub. File:Gott Collection at Hepworth Gallery (40).JPG, 18th-century engraving of the Skyrack ( Gott Collection) File:'Skyrack Oak', formerly one of the boundary marks of the Skyrack Wapentake, Headingley, West Yorkshire (O57856).jpg, The tree in 1888 File:Headingley, Yorkshire St Michael's Church and the Shire Oak, 1897 (14286343497) (cropped to show stump).jpg, Close up image of the reduced stump in 1897 File:Shire Oak (6727535463).jpg, Commemorative plaque file:Original Oak (6212130318).jpg, The Original Oak - the pub that now marks the site

References

{{Reflist Individual oak trees Individual trees in England Headingley 1940s individual tree deaths