The Bewdley Sweet Chestnut Nearly a stones throw from my house is Kateshill House. The House was once part of the much larger Tickenhall Manor, and was home to Arthur Tudor (1486-1502), Prince of Wales, who was the son of Henry VII. Arthur was born at the end of the Wars of the Roses, and was seen as the great hope of the newly formed House of Tudor. His birth also improved relationships with the House of York. The writers of modern soaps would do well to gen up on medieval politics; they are a vertiable mine of plot material! Its said the tree was planted to honour the official marriage of Arthur and Catherine of Aragon in 1501, when Arthur was 15. Royal marriages in Britain were businesslike affairs, the happy couple generally having little or no say in the matter - often the deals were done when they were still babies. At the manly age of 11, Arthur was betrothed to Catherine, to strengthen The Anglo-Spanish alliance against France. When he was 13 - still below the legal marrying age, a proxy wedding was held. Neither party has to be present for the happy event; all they need to do is send a representative. I presume Arthur played himself, but I wonder who played Catherine?. The real Catherine did brave the sea voyageafterwards though, and they moved in together at Ludlow Castle, which is nice. Sadly Arthur pegged it six months later of an unknown illness. Catherine insisted their marriage was never consummated, and was therefore void, leaving her free to be betrothed to Arthurs brother Henry. Yes, THAT Henry. As lucky wife no.1 Catherine kept her head, but died before her time all the same. COD possibly cancer, though some suspected she had been poisoned by Anne Boleyn. Ye Olde CSI were not what one might call hi-tech back then though, so its all down to speculation. Murder or not, this death was indeed convenient: Catherine had failed to produce a male heir by the time her childbearing days were over, but the church refused to grant Henry a divorce so he could marry a fresh wife. I dont need to go into all the churchy shenanigans that followed, do I? Anyway, I could go on all month about our torrid history and never reach the end, so back to our hero of the hour, this wonderful tree. Another, far duller story has it that the tree was planted in 1567 to commemorate the birth of Sir Henry Sidney, who was Lord High Admiral of England. All I know for a fact is, its OLD. and its BIG. This tree is a monster, with a girth of nearly 34 feet. The spread of the branches is what makes this tree such an impressive sight, however. The longest branch grows out from the trunk, and has formed an elbow which rests on the ground some 44 feet away. The branch continues on, ending nearly 80 feet from the tree. The entire spread of this tree covers a whopping quarter of an acre. Though I havent seen it in the flesh ye, as twere, I doubt these photos I found on Google Images do it justice. Until relatively recently, Kateshill has been a private home, but its now being run as a hotel/B&B, so guests can view this wonderful monument to their hearts content. Visitors to the tree, however, are welcome, as long as one knocks first to ask permission. In 2002, to commemorate the Queens Golden Jubilee, a register of 50 Great British Trees was published and each tree presented with a plaque (see photos). IMHO the Bewdley Sweet Chestnut has definitely earned its plaque. I had a fab time learning about this tree only this very morning. Im absolutely stoked that its right here, virtually on my doorstep! I must pop down the road and pay a visit now I know its there. Have a very good day, folks :) xxx
Posted on: Thu, 08 Jan 2015 09:23:36 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015