Thursday 14th March, 2024
I’d first learned of the legend of the ‘chained’ or ‘Cursed’ oak tree – at Alton, North Staffordshire – in my early teens. This was at a time when the family of a school friend kept a caravan at ‘Alton Towers’ theme park, as you could back then, on an attached caravan park. I say ‘theme park’ most loosely - in comparison to the site you see today – as this was back in the early 80’s, at the point when the ‘Corkscrew’ ride was just freshly opened! The only other attraction of any size that I can recall at that point was ‘The Pirate Boat’!
As a result of this still ‘budding’ status, other features were still greatly outlined to the paying public as considerable ‘attractions’… such as the pretty gardens, the ornate ‘Pagoda’ and, somewhere within this mix, the ‘Chained Oak’ was listed! Sadly, back in the day, I never did take the time to go and find the tree – nor during any of my subsequent visits, in later decades – as, had I bothered, I’d have received nothing but the stiffest opposition from my companions on such trips!
Thinking back, I’m not at all sure where the idea originated – possibly just assumption on my behalf – but I’ve always been convinced that the tree in question stood somewhere ‘within’ Alton Towers theme park itself? As a result, in my mind, it could only be visited via ‘entry to’ the park itself…
It was this detail that instantly jumped out at me when my friend John (of ‘GhostcallersUK’) recently expressed an interest in going to look at the tree… To my absolute amazement, he assured me that the site was NOT within the confines of Alton Towers itself, but easily accessed… as it sat on a fairly popular rambling track, freely open to all! Having looked up directions to the site online, John easily led us straight to the oak, the journey – even with my current sciatica raddled progress – taking just 5 to 10 minutes from car park to fabled tree!
Finally coming to view the location, that I’d first heard of all that time ago, certainly came as something of a bitter / sweet experience. There was, firstly, the blatant and simple joy at finally ‘viewing a legendary spot’… but then there was also considerable horror at seeing the condition of the tree itself…!
Needless to say, ‘Oaks’ are a recognised symbol of strength and enduring longevity, but the forlorn-looking, shattered, stick-of-a-tree that we saw that day genuinely struck the onlooker as ‘anything but’!? Okay, it could be stressed that it is still very much a ‘Winter landscape’ that we were visiting in – most flora still entirely bereft of leaves – so we were certainly not seeing the oak at anywhere near ‘its best’… However, the irony of the condition of the tree today – reflecting the key theme of the legend that has caused it to be SO famous – just couldn’t be ignored!
For anyone not familiar with the story concerned, there are often slight differences from telling to telling, but the Wikipedia version, reported here below, is basically the story that I recall previously seeing:
"On an autumn night, the Earl of Shrewsbury was returning to his home at Alton Towers when an old woman suddenly appeared in the road ahead of his horse and coach. The coach stopped to find why she was there at which point the old woman begged for a coin. The Earl cruelly dismissed her, so the old woman stated that she would place a curse on him. The old woman told the Earl that for every branch on the Old Oak Tree that fell, a member of the Earl’s family would die. The Earl refused to listen and continued on his way.
That same night, a violent storm caused a single branch from the old oak tree to break and fall. Later that evening, a member of the Earl’s family suddenly and mysteriously died.
Now firmly believing in the power of the curse, the Earl is said to have ordered his servants to chain every branch together to prevent other branches from falling. To this day, the Oak tree remains chained up".
Clearly, given the current condition of the tree and its immediate surroundings, the basic premise of the legend – to maintain the oak and keep its branches from touching the ground – is clearly something that should be regarded as ‘of major concern’ today!? There is considerable irony in the fact that – back in XXX – Alton Towers used the legend of the Chained Oak as the basis for their highly popular ‘Hex’, haunted-house-style, attraction… which would have greatly ‘brought the legend’ to the public… and vice-versa! I cannot help but imagine that the latter, ‘new found fame’ has contributed greatly to the horribly ravaged condition of the trees location today!? It is just a pity that, with all of this fresh emphasis and attention splayed on this legendary site, certain parties cannot, in turn, endeavour to invest a little of the finances generated in maintaining and protecting the once mighty oak itself!?
As a slight asides to the visit to see the aforementioned location: While in the Alton area, I spotted a sign for ‘Croxden Quarry’… and was reminded of moderately regular journeys that I took through that area, during the early 1990’s. In cutting through the region, we had always used a particular country road that, at one point, took us ‘straight through the middle’ of an old, ruined abbey or priory! (Pic above: The scene that I recall so well, from my early 20's!) At the time, I hadn’t known where we were… but the magical scene – albeit taken in at reasonable speed, with my friend driving - was always completely enthralling to me!
It was only in later years that I eventually discovered just what this lovely, old site had been… the 12th Cent. ‘Croxden Abbey’, situated just 2.2 miles distant from the ‘Chained Oak’ at Alton!
Given its close proximity – and the fact that John seemingly hadn’t heard of the site previously – we ended up spending a charming afternoon wandering around the confines of what, in it’s heyday, must have been a truly incredible Cistercian site! Having only ever previously viewed a fragment of the location – again, only from a fairly ‘fast moving’ vehicle too! – I was utterly gobsmacked to finally discover just how immense the overall site actually was!
‘But, is it haunted?’ young John wanted to know… At the time of our visit, in response, I could only say that I had certainly ‘seen something somewhere’ about ghosts, in at least one of the books on my shelves at home! It took a while to track down the reference concerned, but, in his book ‘Haunted Heritage’, the author, John Mason, reports that the figures of both ‘monks’ and ‘nuns’ have been reported by visitors… Unfortunately, these sightings – he says – frequently occur on warm, ‘Summer’ nights… which were something of a contrast to our sunny, but moderately cool, ‘Winter’ visit!
Still – regardless of the time of the year – it was, most
assuredly, a wonderful afternoon, spent in impeccable company! As always, my immeasurable 'THANKS' go out to the lovely John Chance for kindly involving me in his adventures!
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