The Chained Oak
Everyone’s hometown has something unusual - maybe a rumor of a haunted road or something like that. But, if you head to Alton, England their oddity to share with the world is a tree wrapped in chains. But how and when did these centuries-old chains find their way to the oak?
The origin of the story takes us to the early 1800s. One evening, the 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, John Talbot was headed home in his carriage. But the hope of an easy return home was lost when an old woman (or in some retellings, man) blocked the path of his carriage. Frustrated and eager to get home, the Earl requested the old, haggard person to move out of his way. She requested some coin in exchange for passage and the Earl ignored her pleas.
As he was getting back into his carriage, the woman spat a curse upon him. For every branch of the old Oak there falls, a member of your family will die. The Earl continued to ignore the beggar and headed home.
When he finally returned home, a storm started to brew. As he was passing by the oak, he noted that one of the branches had fallen off. Later that night, he found a member of his family had suddenly died, seemingly without cause.
Frightened and feeling a bit superstitious, the Earl demanded that every branch of the oak should be chained, to prevent any other branches from falling. By doing this, he hoped the curse would be broken.
To this day, the branches of the oak are lined with heavy chains.
In 2007, a huge part of the tree, weakened by chains and time, had fallen to the ground. The descendants of the Earl of Shrewsbury were contacted, but apparently no sudden fatalities followed.
Although the actual story is subject to changes and mistrust, the chains have been examined and were hand-forged around the 1800s which matches, at least, the time of the story. The oak itself is approximately 1,300 years old, which makes it one of the oldest in the area.
Gary Rogers
The blog image comes from
File:Chained Oak - geograph.org.uk - 1326196.jpg
Created: 28 May 2009
