{"id":1587,"date":"2014-08-13T14:16:33","date_gmt":"2014-08-13T13:16:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/?p=1587"},"modified":"2024-03-14T14:36:54","modified_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:36:54","slug":"history-english-oak-british-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wood-finishes-direct.com\/blog\/history-english-oak-british-wood\/","title":{"rendered":"The History of English Oak – A Very British Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

The ancient Oak forests of old England hold a special place in our hearts. Some would even go as far as to say that “England was built\u00a0on Oak.” The Christmas\u00a0Yule Log was\u00a0originally an Oak log decorated with\u00a0mistletoe and holly. Our ancestors carried\u00a0acorns for good luck, and to ward off illness. The ancient Greeks, Romans, Celts and Druids all thought the tree was magical. Roman soldiers even wore Oak leaf crowns when celebrating victory.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Bearing\u00a0in mind the\u00a0star-studded place the not-so-humble English Oak tree has played in the nation’s development and ultimate success, we thought it’d be fun to take a look at the history of the tree\u00a0and explore what it\u00a0has done for us over the countless centuries we’ve been exploiting it.\u00a0From prestigious Oak wood buildings to beautiful, ancient Oak furniture, it’s an impressive story…<\/p>\n

A short history of English Oak<\/h2>\n

A member of the Beech family, the English Oak tree’s formal name is\u00a0Pedunculate Oak, AKA Quercus. It’s our national tree thanks to its extraordinary\u00a0height, venerable age and legendary strength, all of which have given it the reputation of being king of the\u00a0forest. But Oak trees have been here for much longer than humans, with remnants of the\u00a0trees dating way back to\u00a0the interglacial period about\u00a0300,000 years ago. It is still the commonest tree in our shrinking woodlands.<\/p>\n

About the Oak tree itself<\/h3>\n

Oak is most common in the South and East of England, with its\u00a0wide, irregular, rounded\u00a0crown and\u00a0grey fissured bark. Because the branches often develop low down on the trunk, Oak trees have been\u00a0adored by tree-climbing children down through the generations. And the shape of the leaves is so familiar it’s more or less imprinted on our national psyche.<\/p>\n

When an Oak grows on open land it spreads out. When it’s surrounded by forest it stays slim and slender, and grows taller. It has very deep roots so tolerates drought very well and\u00a0dislikes shallow soil. Give it a moist, mineral rich soil with a pH value of 4.9 to 5.4 and it’ll be at its happiest, growing as tall as 45 metres! Oak trees don’t even mind being waterlogged, even for long periods, so they’re remarkably resilient, even to salty water.<\/p>\n

Find the tallest oak tree you can. It’s likely it’ll be less than 300 years old, since older Oaks were traditionally pollarded to provide firewood and timber for building. The biggest ever recorded English Oak tree, the Newlands Oak, reached a breathtaking size, with a\u00a0trunk measuring 45 feet around when it fell down. Today’s biggest Oak tree lives in Sherwood Forest, with a girth of 33 feet, weighing 23 tons and is an estimated 800 to 1000 years old. Wow!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Oak wood is remarkably\u00a0sturdy and lasts for ages. You can still pick up 14th Century and earlier Oak furniture… at a price! It’s perfect for making the frames of buildings. It’s\u00a0used to make barrels for wine and spirits and to make charcoal.\u00a0It is used to smoke cheeses and hams, with its distinctive flavour, and the bark is used in the leather tanning process. It is indeed a tree for all seasons and all reasons.<\/p>\n

In the 1700s, Oak trees were in high demand by ship builders, and were grown especially for the purpose. In fact every ship commissioned by\u00a0Drake and Nelson used up the wood from around\u00a02,500 trees. Luckily they\u00a0grow especially fast for the first 80-120 years of\u00a0life, which means\u00a0shipbuilders didn’t\u00a0need to wait hundreds of years for it to be big enough.<\/p>\n

The tree doesn’t produce acorns until it’s between 25-40 years old,\u00a0and produces the most seeds in middle age when it’s between\u00a080 and 120. It starts to decline into old age from 250-350\u00a0 years, slowing down growth and eventually losing branches.<\/p>\n

The First World War resulted in an acute shortage of the wood, and in\u00a01919 the\u00a0Forestry Commission was set up\u00a0to protect existing woods and create new ones, returning our heritage to its former splendour. They have planted countless new forests since then, as well as helping landowners\u00a0replenish their stock.<\/p>\n

Today oak is still one of the most popular\u00a0hardwoods in Britain, used on an everyday basis for\u00a0interior joinery and furniture.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

20\u00a0cool\u00a0facts about oak wood<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. In olden times oak\u00a0leaves, bark and acorns were used to\u00a0treat ailments like\u00a0diarrhoea, inflammation and kidney stones.<\/li>\n
  2. The\u00a0Bowthorpe Oak in Lincolnshire has the biggest girth of any English Oak. It’s hollow,\u00a0there’s enough room for 20 people inside and it’s around 1000 years old.<\/li>\n
  3. The River Severn’s\u00a0ancient Oak breakwaters, still used today, were originally set by the Romans.<\/li>\n
  4. Woodpeckers bury acorns, storing them for winter.\u00a0They’re also eaten by jays and squirrels, and are a rich food source for British wildlife.<\/li>\n
  5. Oak’s\u00a0Latin name, Quercus robur, means ‘strength’.<\/li>\n
  6. King Charles the Second\u00a0famously hid from his pursuers in an Oak tree at Boscobel House.<\/li>\n
  7. The Oak’s open canopy means forest-floor flowers like bluebells can thrive beneath.<\/li>\n
  8. An oak\u00a0tree can shorten itself in response to the ageing process in an effort to\u00a0live longer.<\/li>\n
  9. Oaks support more wildlife forms than any other native tree, including more than 280 kinds of insect.<\/li>\n
  10. The Oak has been a national symbol of strength and survival for centuries.<\/li>\n
  11. In prehistoric times, humans used to make flour from acorns.<\/li>\n
  12. Bats love to roost in old woodpecker holes in Oak trees.<\/li>\n
  13. Often the tallest things in a landscape, Oaks are frequently\u00a0hit by lightning.<\/li>\n
  14. The Oak was sacred to the Greek god Zeus, the Roman god\u00a0Jupiter and the Celtic god\u00a0Dagda.<\/li>\n
  15. Loving couples were married\u00a0under ancient Oak trees during\u00a0Oliver Cromwell\u2019s time.<\/li>\n
  16. There’s an Oak\u00a0on\u00a0the 1987 pound coin.<\/li>\n
  17. Britain’s Oak trees are threatened by several\u00a0pests and pathogens, including the Oak processionary moth,\u00a0a foreign pest.\u00a0The moth\u2019s hairs are poisonous and if you breathe them in, you might suffer from\u00a0itching and respiratory problems.<\/li>\n
  18. Mistletoe lives on Oak branches.<\/li>\n
  19. Acute Oak decline (AOD) and chronic Oak decline (COD) are two more serious threats to\u00a0Britain\u2019s Oak trees.<\/li>\n
  20. For more information about our wonderful national tree, \n\nexplore\u00a0the excellent BBC Nature web pages<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The ancient Oak forests of old England hold a special place in our hearts. Some would even go as far as to say that “England was built\u00a0on Oak.” The Christmas\u00a0Yule Log was\u00a0originally an Oak log decorated with\u00a0mistletoe and holly. Our ancestors carried\u00a0acorns for good luck, and to ward off illness. The ancient Greeks, Romans, Celts […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2267,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[297],"tags":[525,526,315],"class_list":["post-1587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-product-spotlight","tag-english-oak","tag-oak","tag-wood-finishing"],"yoast_head":"\nThe History of English Oak - A Very British Wood - Wood Finishes Direct<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The English oak tree is a national symbol of British strength, power, resilience and determination. 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