History

Why 'The Royal Oak'?

Royal Oak is a reference to "Boscobel Oak" at Shifnal in Shropshire. In which the then Prince Charles hid; to escape from his Parliamentarian adversaries after his Royalist Army had been defeated in the Battle of Worcester in 1651

After the restoration of the Monarchy, Prince Charles became King Charles II, and declared that 29th May, his birthday, should be celebrated as "Royal Oak Day" to give thanks for his escape.

The fact that the tale was well known and could be depicted on a sign showing the king in the tree made it a popular choice of names for Inns in the 17th century when many of the population were illiterate. Neither us, nor any of the predecessors have had cause to change it subsequently.

You will note that our Inn-sign carries the date 1651 referring to the incident and is not the buildings age - which is believed to be considerably older.