Whiteleaved Oak
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Whiteleaved Oak | |
|---|---|
 Whiteleaved Oak and Raggedstone Hill | |
  Whiteleaved Oak Location within Herefordshire | |
| OS grid reference | SO760359 |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Postcode district | HR8 |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
Whiteleaved Oak is a hamlet in the English county of Herefordshire, lying in a valley at the southern end of the Malvern Hills between Raggedstone Hill and Chase End Hill where the counties of Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire 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.[1][2]
In 1584 Henry Dingley, a verderer of Malvern 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 [which] bereth white leaves."[3]
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.[4]
