Oak Apple Day was set up by Parliament in 1660 as “An Act for a Perpetual Anniversary of Thanksgiving”. They were celebrating the restoration of Charles II to the throne in May of 1660. The Day was abolished in 1859, but a few places continue to celebrate the day.
The Oak was chosen partly as a symbol of England but particularly because after Cromwell’s Parliamentary Army defeated the Royalists at the Battle of Worcester (September 3rd 1651), Charles hid in an Oak Tree near Boscobel House in Shropshire on his epic journey to the South Coast and the safety of France.
People wore oak apples (or shick-shacks) which are a type of ‘plant-gall‘. This is an abnormal growth from a point of irritation on a plant. Or they were used sprigs of Oak leaves.
The text of the Parliamentary Bill said:
That in all succeeding ages, the 29th of May be celebrated in every parish Church and Chapel in England and the Dominions thereof, by rendering thanks to God for the Kings (Charles II’s) restoration to actual possession and exercise of his legal authority over his subjects’
Church Services for the Restoration; for the preservation from the Gunpowder Plot and the death of Charles the First were kept up until the year 1859.
Stained glass window showing Baptist of King Ethelred of Kent by St Augustine watched by Queen Bertha. In St Martins Church, Canterbury
We have various days to celebrate St Augustine of Canterbury. These are according to Google;
26 May (Anglican, Eastern Orthodox, and Catholic Extraordinary Form calendar in Great Britain)
27 May (Catholic Ordinary Form calendar)
28 May (Catholic Extraordinary Form calendar outside Great Britain).
Maybe like the Venerable Bede he died after Dusk! I give the explanation on yesterday’s post on the Venerable Bede.
St Augustine brought Christianity to England, leading the mission sent by Pope Gregory to Canterbury in 597AD. He was the Abbot of a Monastery in Rome before the Pope sent him to convert the Angles. I tell the story of the mission in my post: March-12th-St-Gregory-Punster-Extraordinary/.
Augustine is the patron saint of England and the Anglican Communion. But he is not the person who brought Christianity to Britain. To England, maybe. Britain. No.
The Romans brought Christianity to Englands green and pleasant lands. I summarise the evidence in my post on St Lucius, who is claimed to have brought Christianity to Britain. Less controversially. Britain’s first martyr was St. Albans, who I will post about in June. However, some modern scholars doubt St Albans existence.
But there is good reason to think Christianity was strong in Roman Britain, particularly in towns. There is, also, some evidence of non-Christian religious centres surviving in the countryside. The Roman word for non-Christians, pagans comes from the Latin word paganus, which meant someone who lived in the country.
After the Romans, the Christian Church continued to thrive, with a host of Saints in Cornwall, and Wales. The first substantial eye-witness account of post-Roman Britain, dated to the early 5th Century, is by the Catholic Bishop Germanus. This shows a battle for souls in Britain not between Christians and Pagans, but between Catholics and other Christians. The Catholics targeted these as heretics. I talk about this in my post about St Germanus here.
The next insight comes from the conversion of the Irish to Christianity later in the 5th Century. St Patrick’s account gives an eyewitness view. What is interesting is that St Patrick’s family were living in a town where aspects of Roman life continued. After being kidnapped by Irish raiders, St Patrick went on to lead the conversion of the Irish. But he was helped by St Bridget and Palladius. See my post on St Patrick here, St Bridget here.
St Augustine & the British Church
I don’t think Augustine comes over with any sense of personality or charisma. But Welsh history shows him to be an unsympathetic, hierarchical character.
The relationship between the British Church and the incoming Roman Catholic hierarchy was strained. Meetings were held between the British Church and St Augustine. To prepare for this the British arranged a Synod in the old Roman town of Chester. Here 7 British Bishops and others prepared for their response to St Augustine’s insistence on the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church. One of the contentious issues was the ‘computus’ for deciding the date of Easter. Another was the style of the monks’ tonsure! But it was a major step for the British Churches to align themselves with a foreign ecclesiastical structure.
The delegates were advised by a wise hermit to arrive late at the planned meeting with St Augustine. Then they were to see how he reacted. If he got up and welcomed them, then he was a fit leader to follow. If he acted imperiously, he was not a man of God. St Augustine failed the test, the meeting was a failure. St Augustine cursed the British which is said to have lead to a military campaign against them by the Anglo-Saxons. The British lost the subsequent battle of Chester. It was said that 1200 monks from the nearby monastery of Bangor-in-Dee were slaughtered.
The battle severed the connections between the British Kingdoms in Cumbria and Scotland from the Kingdoms in Wales and made it very unlikely that the British would ever regain control of Britain from the English.
Bangor-on-Dee is a few miles from Chester and one of the most important British Monasteries. Among the clerics trained there are said to be Pelagius, who created the Pelagian Heresy which Germanus was sent to crush; Gildas the first ‘historian’ of the Saxon incursion. And St Tudno, who gave his name to Llandidno.
The two churches were finally reconciled at the Synod of Whitby. For more about the calculations for Easter and the Synod of Whitby look at my post here.
A Scribe – possibly the Venerable Bede. Late 12th Century from Lives of St Cuthbert.
He died on the evening of what we would call the 25th, but in ancient times, the Day changed at dusk. So for his contemporaries, he died on 26th May. But, as he shares his day with St Augustine, some celebrate the Venerable Bede on May 27th!
Called the Father of English History, the Venerable Bede was an excellent historian, who set the tone and standard for many centuries of English Historiography. He is mostly remembered for the ‘Ecclesiastical History of the English People’ which provides the most trusted account of the events of the Post Roman, Migration, and Anglo-Saxon periods.
So well regarded is he that he is the only Englishman mentioned in Dante’s Paradiso. This is the third part of the Divine Comedy. The other parts are about the bad people in Hell and Purgatory. Bede is with the Angels in Heaven.
He is Venerable not only in the general sense of being wise, old and respected, but also in the technical sense:
‘(in the Roman Catholic Church) a title given to a deceased person who has attained a certain degree of sanctity but has not been fully beatified or canonized.‘ (Oxford Languages)
In 1899, the Catholic Church honoured him with the title of Doctor of the Church – someone holy who had contributed to the theology of the Church.
He is considered by some to be the best historian in olden times, only equalled by Herodotus (said Thomas Carlyle). Thucydides surely says I! (Note: Herodotus is known as the ‘Father of History’ for his storytelling and breadth of the scope of his attention. While Thucydides didn’t tell tales, he concentrated on empirical evidence and so is known as the Father of Scientific History)
Bede is so good because he checked his sources and had access to a wide range of books. He even had a line to the Vatican so he could check his facts with Vatican records. This in the 8th Century! The Venerable Bede is the polar opposite of Geoffrey of Monmouth, (writing in the 12th Century). If Bede mentions a person or an event then they are accepted as part of the story of the English. By contrast, if Geoffrey of Monmouth mentions a person or event, without further corroboration, then historians tend to consider it a story, myth or simply made up by Geoffrey.
But, the truth is not so straightforward. Bede is not without his biases and his sources were not themselves always reliable, nor above accepting myth, legends and miracles as fact. Geoffrey also has access to some, probably, oral traditions so that some (but which?) of his many tales of the Kings of Britain may hold considerable historical information.
Bede’s Influence on English History
Bede followed Gildas (A British Monk writing in the 6th Century) in wondering why God allowed the native Christian Britons to be defeated by the foreign Pagan English. Gildas assumed God was punishing the Britons because of the evil deeds of their so-called Christian Kings. Bede extends this to argue that God is punishing the Britons for not trying to convert the English to Christianity AND by being generally not a great bunch of Christians. God knows that the English, when converted, will be much better Christians than the Britons.
This starts a histographical trend for the English to think of themselves as the chosen people. By contrast, the Britons (Welsh, Scots and Irish) are feckless Barbarians (they thought). Bede concentrates on the English and countless generations of Historians have either left out the Britons, or demeaned them in their histories of England and indeed of Britain.
For example, most histories of Kings, deal only with England and start either with William the Conqueror or Alfred the Great and omit any British, Welsh, Scots or Irish Kings. Except for my book on the Kings and Queens of Britain, which starts with the largely legendary Kings of Britain, and includes some Welsh and Scottish Kings. To buy it, you will find details of it here.
So Bede is a great historian without whom we would have an even less clear idea about what happened in the centuries following the Roman Period. But also, contributed to an Anglo centric view of history. He was writing in Northumberland at the Monastery of Jarrow, and is more sympathetic to Northumbria than to Wessex, Mercia, and the British Kingdoms.
Bede’s Books
He wrote over 60 books. One was about the theological science of computus. In particular, the dating of Easter. The British Church had one method, the Catholic Church another. This contributed to a series of confrontations between the 2 Churches. And was only finally resolved at the Synod of Whitby in the favour of the Catholic Church.
Bede was instrumental in making Dionysius Exiguus idea of dating from the birth of Christ as the standard AD /BC system. He also thought the Catholic calculation that Jesus was born 5000 years ago was wrong and used the Bible to calculate the more ‘correct’ date was 3952 BC. Archbishop Ussher in the 17th Century took Bede’s calculation and improved it and suggested the proper date was 4004 BC.
For more about Dionysius Exiguus and the division of time, see my post here.
Today, is the Day to go Cheese Rolling in the Cotswold! Coopers Hill Cheese Rolling takes place near Birdlip in Gloucestershire. For at least the last 200 years, people have gone to the top of the Hill, sent a Double Gloucester Cheese rolling down the hill at up to 70 miles an hour. Then chased after it despite the steep slope. Its mayhem. Watch this video:
The Ashmolean is a lovely museum. It’s like a miniature combination of the British Museum, The National Gallery, and the V&A. It has a superb collection including the Cretan Archaeology excavated by the Museum’s Director, Arthur Evans in Knossos. Not only that, but it is Britain’s oldest secular Museum, opening over fifty years before the British Museum.
But its origins are even older. This is a story near to my heart. And and I’m going to tell the story as it was told to me by Mrs Nicholson. She founded the Garden History Museum (now Garden Museum) and a formidable person. I was the part-time Curator for a few years in the 1990s.
The Museum is in St Mary’s Church, Lambeth. The Church, despite being the last burial place of various Bishops of London, was going to be made redundant. Mrs Nicholson was not having this and launched a campaign to preserve it. In the graveyard was the grave of the famous Gardeners the Tradescants, father, son, and grandson. So, she hit on the idea of making the Museum into the Museum of Garden History. One of the first in the world, apparently. Some years later, I was employed as the part-time Curator, despite knowing very little about flowers or gardens.
So What Has This to do with the Ashmolean Museum
Elias Ashmole in a frame by Grlinling Gibbons, Ashmolean Museum, Photo K Flude
You are wondering?
When Mrs Nicholson came into the Church she stamped on the floor. I enquired why? And was told that this was where Elias Ashmole was buried. He being the founder of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. This is the wonderful story which I tell every time I take a group to the Ashmolean Museum.
The Tradescants
John Tradescant the Elder, Ashmolean Museum photo by K Flude
Apart from being among the first famous Garderners in the UK, the Tradescants ran Britain’s first Museum. It was in Lambeth, London and was called the Arc. The cabinet of curiosities was famous in Britain and Abroad. It had many wonders, shells, sculptures, weapons, clothes, shells, a piece of the True Cross, a Vegetable Lamb, and the lamp held by Guy Fawkes in the Gunpowder plot
John Tradescant the Elder, collected for the Duke of Buckingham. He also helped build the fortifications at the La Rochelle for Buckingham’s disastrous expedition. Tradescant travelled as far afield as Africa to collect curiosities. He also wrote to Ships’ Captains travelling to Africa to bring anything strange back for him.
John Tradescant Junior and Elias Ashmole
When he died, his son, John Tradescant the Younger, took over. Both the Gardening and the Museum. His neighbour Elias Ashmole helped out, and together they created Britain’s first Museum Catalogue (shown below).
Catalogue of the Museum Tradescantianum
Sadly, the third John Tradescant, died. His father was bereft, and feared what would come of the wonderful collection. The collection his father had left him and which he had augmented. He travelled to America and bought back some of the oldest Native American clothing surviving, including Powhatan’s Mantle (or cloak).
Native American objects collected by John Tradescant the Younger.Powhatan’s Cloak – probably a religious cloth not a cloak
One day, he went to the pub at Elias Ashmole’s request. They discussed the problem of the survival of the collection. Ashmole took out a document and told Tradescant that if he signed it, it would ensure that the collection survived. Tradescant signed it. Went home, his wife, Hester called him a fool and told him to rescind it. Ashmole refused pointing out it was a legal document that had been freely signed before witnesses.
Hester Tradescant and the AshmoleMuseum
John Tradescant and his friend, Roger Friend with the collection of shells. right Hester Tradescant, daughter and John Tradescant the Youngest. Ashmolean Museum, photo K Flude
Tradescant died. His wife, who had control of the collection till she died, was legally harassed by Ashmole. He accused her of profiting from the collection. She was found dead in her garden pond. Ashmole shipped the collection up the Thames to Oxford. He made a legal agreement with the University to provide it a permanent home. They built the original Ashmolean which is still on Broad Street but is now the Museum of the History of Science. The building was not used just a collection of ‘knic-knackery’ as it was called but also a laboratory, dissection theatre, and with meeting rooms.
The Original Ashmolean Museum in Broad Street. Photo k Flude
Now, the problem with all this according to Mrs Nicholson, was twofold. Firstly, Ashmole was responsible for the death of Hester. Secondly, the oldest Museum in Britain should be called the Tradescant Museum, not the Ashmolean. The core of the Museum was, after all, Tradescant’s Arch, although Ashmole added his own collection to it. Mrs Nicholson could never forgive Ashmole for stealing the Tradescants’ glory. Arthur MacGregor, Director of the Ashmolean Museum was a trustee of the Museum of Garden History, and would point out that without Ashmole the collection might well not have survived.
First Published May 24th 2025.
For other posts relevant to Tradescant and Ashmole, see the following posts:
Titue Oates & Popish Plot. Set of playing cards themed on the Plot c1679 after a design by Francis Barlow
Titus Oates was a con-man. He accused leading Catholics of participating in a plot to kill King Charles II and restore a Catholic monarchy. Among his targets were the Queen, and the King’s Brother’s wife.
Titus Oates had a complicated past. He was a Baptist who turned to the Church of England on the Restoration of King Charles II. He went to Cambridge where he was accused of being a ‘Great Dunce’ and never took his degree. His next about turn saw him in St Omer to train as a Jesuit. He accused a man, whose job he wanted, of sodomy. Then, he became a Naval Chaplain. But he was, himself, accused of buggery and dismissed from the Navy. He was received into the Catholic Church while, at the same time, he wrote a series of anti-Catholic Pamphlets. He made accusations against over 500 people. This became known as the Popish Plot.
As a result, twenty-two people were executed, some ‘Hanged, Drawn and Quartered’ because of Oates’ baseless accusations. The Diarist, Samuel Pepys, was caught up in the anti-Catholic frenzy. Pepys was Secretary of the Navy during the Plot and was close to the Catholic, James, Duke of York. He was accused of selling secrets to the French. Awaiting trial for treason, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Eventually, he was able to clear himself and resume public life.
Old Print of Samuel Pepys
It was only with the accession of James II that the climate of opinion changed. Then Titus Oates was found guilty of perjury. Perjury was not punishable with death, so Oates’ punishment was a long-drawn-out affair instead. He was sentenced to be imprisoned for life. And ‘whipped through the streets of London for five days a year for the remainder of his life.’
Oates was put in the pillory at Westminster Hall, where passers-by pelted him with eggs. He was again pilloried the next day in the City. On the third day, stripped, tied to a cart, and whipped from Aldgate to Newgate. The following day he was whipped from Newgate to Tyburn. (Source Wikipedia)
However, when the Catholic King, James II was, deposed and replaced by the joint Protestant monarchs William and Mary in 1689, Titus Oates was released and given a pension. He died in 1705.
For Pepys at the Execution of Charles I see my post here.
The beheading of Anne Boleyn began at 8am with her speech.
‘Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it.
I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die, but I pray God save the King and send him long to reign over you, for a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never: and to me he was ever a good, a gentle and sovereign lord.
And if any person will meddle of my cause, I require them to judge the best. And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul.’
She was blindfolded. She knelt down, putting her neck on the block and repeated:
‘ToJesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesu receive my soul.’
Mast head of the St James Evening Post (June 1719), the paper that carried the accusation of Sodomy
On 16th May 1719, the St James Evening Post (later called the Evening Post) reported on the Guilty Verdict returned against ex-Servants Stephen Margrove and John Wood. The two men were accused of extorting money by threatening to expose George Smith as a sodomist (then punishable by death).
The Proceedings of the Old Bailey Archive gives details of the case. This took place in the Parish of St. Martins in the Fields (near what is now Trafalgar Square), on 18th, January 1718. George Smith told the Court that:
‘ the Prisoners came up to him (and John Wood took him hold by the Collar of his Coat) and demanded his Money, and said if he would not give it them they would take away his Life and swear Sodomy against him; that by means of this Violence, and being under a Terror, and in great-Fear he gave them what he had in his Pocket.’
But they wanted more and forced Smith to take them to his Master’s House in Golden-Square. Here, he gave them another Guinea, to add to the 22 shillings they had already extorted.
The Accusation of Sodomy
Margrove and Wood protested that Smith: ‘came up to Wood while he was making Water, and took hold of his Yard, using some unseemly Expressions, whereupon he (Wood) called out a Sodomite‘.
At this accusation, Smith ‘fell on his Knees, and begg’d them not to expose him‘ and gave them the money. So, the accused argued it could not be ‘robbing on the High Way‘ because their victim gave them the money.
The Defence
The Court held that the threats, and violence they used made them guilty of Violent Robbery. The men called witnesses to their good employment record, but were unable to show any evidence of ‘how they spent the last 6 Months of their Lives.’ And so the Jury found them Guilty, and the judge put on the Black Cap to pronounce the death sentence.
The Verdict
On the 8th of June 1719 10 people, 7 men and 3 women were sentenced to hang, but 5 were reprieved. Wood, aged 22, and Margrove, aged 21, were however, executed. Rictor Norton in ‘Homosexuality in 18th Century England has more details, including the confessions of the two extortionists.
For the trail of Body snatchers look to the bottom of my post here:
Ruins of St Pancras, Canterbury Photo: K Flude (note the reused Roman Bricks.)
Pancras means ‘all-powerful’ in Greek. St Pancras was a 14 year old who refused to give up his Christian Faith during the persecution of Christians by the Emperor Diocletian. He was beheaded on the Via Aurelia, traditionally, on 12 May 303 AD. His youth makes him the Patron Saint of children, but he is also the patron saint ofjobs and health. He is ‘invoked’ against cramps, false witnesses, headaches, and perjury. His body was buried in the Catacombs, but his head is kept in a reliquary in the Church of Saint Pancras in Rome, where he was buried.
Ice Saints
He is also one of the Ice Saints. These are saints with feast days from May 11th to May 14th. They are: St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius (and in some countries, Saint Boniface of Tarsus – Wikipedia). They represent a belief that there was often a cold snap in early May. Although modern statistics disprove this, it is however true that a late frost can cause havoc with crops. So the Ice Saints help persuade farmers to delay sowing.
In England, we have a saving ‘never cast a clout while may is out’. Which suggest you keep a coat at hand while the May flowers (Hawthorn) are still out, as it can be cold even in May. For more on the Folklore of Hawthorn -see my post here.
St Pancras in England
St Pancras, Old Church, London (Photo: Kevin Flude)
Pope Gregory is said to have given St Augustine relics from St Pancras when his mission came to Kent in 597AD. They built a church dedicated to St Pancras. The ruins still survive in the grounds of what is now St Augustine’s, Canterbury (see picture at tope of post).
This story is partly responsible for the claims that St Pancras Old Church, in Camden (pictured above) is a very old foundation. The idea being that there was a late Roman place of worship here. But there is very little solid evidence for this. It is also argued that, if it isn’t late Roman, then it dates to just after 604AD. This is when St Mellitus, sent by St Augustine, established St Pauls Cathedral. It is suggested that he also founded St Pancras Church. St Pancras’ Church was a Prebend of St Pauls Cathedral (a Prebend provides the stipend (pay) to support a Canon of a Cathedral). But this is not evidence it was established as early as the Cathedral was, and there really isn’t any other credible evidence for a 604 date.
When the Church was restored, the architects said it was mostly Tudor work with traces of Norman architecture. However, the suggested finding of a Roman tile or two, reused in the fabric, is used as evidence to keep the legend going.
If you read the Wikipedia page, you will see evidence of two strands to the contributions. One is playing down the legends of its early foundation. The other trying to keep hold of its place as among the ‘earliest sites of Christian worship’. Read the wikipedia page here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_Old_Church to make up your own mind.
It is a lovely Church, on an impressive site, with links to Thomas Hardy, and Sir John Soane whose tomb is the design inspiration for the iconic Red Telephone Box.
As Patron Saint of Headaches, St Pancras Day is a good day to make worms come out of your head. Or so say the Fairfax Household Book of the 17th/18th Century as quoted in Charles Kightly’s ‘The Perpetual Almanac’:
‘To make a worm come out of the head. Take, in May, the marrow of a bull or cow, and put it warm into the ear, and the worm will come forth for sweetness of the marrow.’
Generally, willowbark was used for headaches. We know this would have worked as the bark contains salicin, which is converted by the body into salicylic acid. This is a precursor to aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid). But it is not as effective.
Of course, the real news today is a new Pope and the 80th Anniversary of Victory in Europe Day. But, I can let other media covers those stories. (But more on VE Day below.)
Helston Furry Dance
At the end of the May Day/Beltane Festival, Helston in Cornwall holds its Furry (or Floral) Dance. It is normally on the 8th May. But it changes date if the 8th is a Sunday or a Monday (Helston’s market day). But it isn’t. So the Floral Dance was held asusual on the 8th May.
Padstow holds, perhaps, the most famous May Day festival on May 1st. Padstow feels more of a ‘pagan’ festival, while Helston is a more sedate, gentlemanly, dance. Padstow is more fuelled by a belly full of ale, while Helston by a Pims No 1, or a Gin and Tonic?
Do, have a look at both youtube videos and watch the Padstow one until at least you see the ‘obby ‘orse and the teaser dancing.
Children born between the two days, May 1st and May 8th are considered to have been ‘born with the skill of man and beast and power over both.’
On This Day
1945 – Victory in Europe Day. Official end of the War in Europe with the definitive surrender of Nazi Germany to the Allies, signed by Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel in Eisenhowers HQ on 8 May 1945 (VE Day). Churchill broadcast the official end of the war at 3pm. In 2025, it was the 80th Anniversary of the defeat of Fascism. A truly significant date with a diminishing number of veterans and eye witnesses surviving to carry the torch. My 97 year old Father is one and he went to London to celebrate that magical day when the war in the west was over. this is what my dad wrote in his recently publish autobiography ‘A Boy from Haggerston:
At last, the War in Europe was over. This day would forever be known as VE day. Both my grandparents had survived the Blitz and only Uncle Charlie’s (my dad’s elder brother) two sons had lost their lives – Charlie died at Salerno and is buried near the beach in the war grave, and Jimmie died, aged 18, at the battle of Reichwald Forest, and is buried in the war grave in the forest. According to David Warren, who is now a battlefield tour guide, received information that Jimmie was reported by the Commanding Office as a typical bright Cockney lad.
Following the end of the war, we were then introduced to images of the emaciated prisoners in the recently freed concentration camps in the newspapers, and in the Pathé news broadcast at the cinema. The terrible news that the Nazis killed millions of Jews in an attempt to wipe out the Jewish race in occupied Europe, spread to a horrified world. This vile campaign is now known as the Holocaust, but is more precisely described as ethnic cleansing.
Jean and I went up to London for VE Day and later also for the VJ Celebrations, where there was singing and dancing in the streets. We went by train to Waterloo, and then walked to Piccadilly. We went with our friends Esther and Bob. It was a great time.
Front cover of ‘A Boy fomr Haggerston’ by Ben Flude
Now, it is up to us and the young to stop such a war ever starting again. What we know is that the vast majority of us don’t want war, but somehow we let it happen. That is our task how to create a world where war is unthinkable.
