Читать книгу A Book of Britain: The Lore, Landscape and Heritage of a Treasured Countryside - Johnny Scott - Страница 32

The common oak, although widely distributed over Europe, is regarded as a peculiarly English tree. It was for many centuries the principal woodland tree in England and is intimately bound up with the history of these islands. As timber, its particular and most valued qualities are its resilience, elasticity and strength, and oak has long been a symbol that reflects the hardiness of the British people. King Edward’s Chair, also sometimes known as ‘St Edward’s Chair’ or ‘The Coronation Chair’, is the throne on which British monarchs sit for their coronation. It was commissioned in 1296 by King Edward I to be carved in oak and designed to contain the Stone of Destiny, the coronation stone of Scotland, below the seat. (This was returned to Scotland in 1996, on the condition that it is sent down to England whenever there is a coronation.)

In the mining areas of Britain coppiced oak was primarily cut for manufacturing charcoal, but there was also a huge demand for the hard, tight-grained, flexible timber in both house and ship-building, particularly by the navy during the Napoleonic Wars. A large ship of the line in Nelson’s navy, carrying between 70 and 100 guns with a ship’s company of over 1,000 officers and men, required timber from 3,500 standard oak trees. In 1805, at the time of the Battle of Trafalgar, the navy alone consisted of 128 ships of the line, 35 gun vessels, 145 frigates, 400 sloops and a host of smaller craft. Apart from fuel, charcoal, and engineering structures where strength and durability were required, or building and boat materials, oak had a mass of other uses. The best fencing was made from oak coppice which was split lengthwise and it was in constant demand by cabinetmakers, joiners, wagonmakers, wheelwrights and in particular by coopers. In the great days of pioneering rail travel, oak was as popular as ash for making railway carriages and goods wagons. Oak sawdust was used to impart a delicious flavour to York hams, and oak galls, the nodules formed where a gall wasp lays her eggs, were used for making ink and treating gonorrhoea. Blacksmiths traditionally used – and still do – the root stump of an oak for an anvil base, and the oak was universally regarded as the best of all barks for tanning.