Southend U3A

February 2023

Witness - Avril McOwen

It was a tall, majestic, strong Oak Tree of about 70' high and its contorted branches had an outward spread of about 90'. It had seeded itself in this grassy field centuries ago when the British Isles had been covered in large oak tree forests and they had been regarded as sacred places by the local people. The Oak tree is still regarded as a symbol of strength, morale, resistance and knowledge. Couples were wed under ancient oaks in Oliver Cromwell's time and King Charles II hid in an oak tree before making a successful escape to France in 1651.

In Britain and Ireland many early Christian churches were situated in oak groves, probably because they were once pagan places of worship and the oak was held so sacred that, at that time, no-one dared harm a leaf of it. Soldiers returning home from fighting in the various wars over the centuries would come and sit under the oak tree's canopy of leaves and listen to the song birds sitting on its branches, fall off to sleep and awake refreshed and at peace. During the Second World War Somerset was a base for the troops preparing for the D-Day Landings and hospitals built at the time for the casualties remain in use today.

Folklore is the strongly held belief in nature and the spirits that live in the trees, soil, flowers and the land. It's been part of the fabric of the British Isles for centuries and runs deep in this county and the people still have a strong connection to their folklore; the ancient customs and festivals began again after the end of the war in 1945 three years ago.

The Cartwright family had owned the land for centuries on which the oak tree was growing, together with three villages. They took their responsibilities as custodians seriously and it was a matter of honour to them to do what was right for the local people who lived and worked on their land. The local people turned to their folklore for help and support and would often write prayer notes to the oak tree which they would put into a small hole inside the trunk to hide the prayer or hide it under the soil near the roots of the tree. They had more faith in their folklore which played a more prominent part in their lives than the Christian churches.

The Oak Tree was a Witness to their joys and sorrows, which they trusted, as they spoke of their problems as they knew it would be kept private. People could never explain the reason why they always felt so calm and peaceful afterwards, as though a large heavy stone had been lifted off their shoulders. Then, not long afterwards, a solution to their problem would appear suddenly and all crooked places would be made straight.

The present landowners were Sir Thomas and Lady Rosemarie Cartwright and their two adult sons, Richard and William who had both returned unhurt from fighting in the war. The family regarded themselves as the custodians of the land and took their responsibilities towards the people and the land very seriously. They were there to do their very best for the people who lived and worked on their land. But the war had taken its toll on the land and the local people who went off to fight. Some never returned, others arrived home safely and others were still recovering from the wounds they received during the fighting.

Locally some of the local shops would never reopen and the Cartwright family fortune had been severely depleted. There were family discussions, sometimes very vocal and volatile, about selling some of their land which they knew would severely disrupt the lives of the villagers even more. They all felt like they were going around in never ending circles with no end in sight. Rosemarie then suggested that they needed to take stock of what they had in their 3-storey Georgian manor house, to look into areas that no-one had entered into for a considerable period of time. Over the decades items had been packed away in rooms, drawers, boxes and cupboards that were all locked so locating keys for these places was going to be the first priority.

Thomas and Rosemarie left the house and, as one, knew there was only one place to go to find answers, to the Oak Tree. On reaching it they sat down on the round wooden seat that encircled the tree trunk and discussed how to locate the keys that would unlock areas not visited for generations. As they spoke of this situation, they both gradually had a feeling of peace encompassing them and quite naturally fell asleep.

Sometime later they awoke feeling refreshed and then Thomas spoke of a room he used to play in as a child that he had not thought of since that time and he remembered he had been given a box of keys to draw and play with by Nanny Marshall who had been with the family since the time of Thomas's father. They thanked the tree for its help, returned to the house, feeling uplifted and excited, walked up the hall stairway to the top of the house and entered the old school room which had also been the nursery.

Thomas looked around this medium sized room that he had not entered for decades, saw that the old chest of drawers and the built-in cupboard were exactly as he had remembered them. Without hesitation, he walked to the chest of drawers and opened the second drawer and took out an old square shaped wooden box. Opening the box, he looked inside it and smiled as saw the keys were exactly as he remembered them. He took the box down to their sitting room and put all the keys onto a table. Underneath the keys there was a piece of paper listing all the keys in the box and what each one opened.

Thomas and Rosemarie then discussed their next step and she said that the best place to start their investigations was the library with its attached Archive Room. In the handsome wood panelled 18th century Library there was a plethora of books collected by the family's ancestors over the centuries The Archive Room held all the land and marriage agreements, wills, letters, bills for art works, building projects and repairs going as far back as the 14th century.

Over the following two weeks they looked at many parchment documents but did not find anything that would be helpful. Their family had always been Royalist supporters who had at that time to keep a very low profile after the execution of Charles I in 1649 and had quietly carried on with their lives. Rosemarie said that all their best ideas and problem solving occurred as they sat under their oak tree so that is where they went. Once comfortably seated they discussed what to do next.

In that quiet, peaceful atmosphere Thomas began to sense that he needed to look for a small thin book that could be easily overlooked in their Library. Rosemary felt that it was a book of handwritten recipes for cakes, tarts and biscuits. Yet again their Oak Tree was a Witness to their concerns, offering up solutions that they could accept or reject. Silently thanking the Oak Tree, they returned to the house, entered the library and spent the next few days searching for the book with the assistance of Robert and William. It took 6 days before they found it and on opening the book, they were disappointed that there was no map. However, Thomas realised that the back cover was thicker than the front cover. Carefully sliding his small pen knife around the edge of the back cover he gently extracted a small folded piece of paper sealed inside the back cover and opened it.

Dated 1650 it was a list of the family treasure, it was a very substantial treasure which amazed and delighted them. But was it still where it was left by the family in 1650? Written on the top of the paper was a verse ‘By the stream, 'neath the tree, you will find me, where the sun rises, I can be seen Amen.’ Many ideas were suggested as to its meaning, none were successful. All this time Thomas had remained silent until he suddenly announced that he knew where to go to find the answer.

They followed him upstairs to the main bedroom on the first floor and they all stood in front of the very large impressive Tudor fireplace above which was the ceiling-high intricately carved wooden Tudor overmantel in the middle of which was the family's coat of arms. They all stared at the quartered shield on which was carved an oak tree, a stream, the sun and an acorn. Underneath was the family's motto ‘Truth Is Life’. Thomas was now closely inspecting the long narrow wooden panel at the base of the overmantel, underneath their coat of arms, that extended from one side of the fireplace to the other. On it were a variety of small carved designs. He stopped at one, stared at it, then placed a finger on it and pushed it gently. Suddenly, there was a clicking sound and a small round door on the front of the carving slid up, emulating the rising sun, and disappeared up behind the overmantel revealing an old intricate key lock.

Together they all chorused ‘The box of keys’ and William went to fetch it. On his return their suppressed excitement was felt in the room, no-one spoke as the box was opened and the keys and the key list were removed. Thomas checked the list, selected a key, inserted it in the key lock and waited. Suddenly there was a sound resembling keys being turned emanating from behind the overmantel and, suddenly, the right-hand side of the large panel sprang open a little way.

Thomas then slowly opened the panel as far as it would go and stood back as it revealed a large concealed room in which could be seen on its floor a collection of bags and long narrow tubes. No-one spoke as they removed 12 very large heavy hessian bags and 8 covered long tubes. The contents of the bags and tubes were carefully removed and placed on the carpeted floor and then they all just stood in complete stunned silence staring at the family myth, according to Thomas, but which was in fact the long-lost Cartwright family treasure, hidden by their ancestors centuries ago.

There were large ruby, emerald, sapphire and diamond necklaces, earrings, pearl necklaces and earrings, gold rings and necklaces, a plethora of embossed gold and silver plates, tankards, candelabras and much more. There were 8 paintings, 2 of which were recognised by Rosemarie as by Van Dyck and much more. It was just difficult to take it all in then suddenly they were all hugging and kissing each other and talking excitedly about how the treasure was the answer to all their prayers. Now they had the means to make all the necessary improvements in their three villages and their extensive land holdings. A final check was made to make sure nothing was left behind and the panel was then gently closed back into place but left unlocked so that they could all have a closer inspection of it later on.

The following day after breakfast, by common consent, the family walked to their silent Witness, the Oak Tree, sat on the round wooden bench under its canopy of leaves on its many contorted branches on which sat birds singing their songs and silently said to it ‘Thank You’.