Page 17 - Oundle Life November 2023

BOCASE
STONE
Robin Hood’s hangout?
Deep in Harry’s Park Wood near Brigstock stands a mystery. An ancient rectangular slab of limestone, tilted backwards at an angle of 30 degrees, and bearing the roughly hewn inscription in archaic English: ‘In this
some think the tree took its name as it marked the sport where the Bocas was read out in public.
Others believe the name is a corruption of ‘buck case’ and refers to the practice
plaes grew Bocase tree.’
The Bocase tree was a massive hollow oak tree, a significant marker in what was a much-forested landscape. The tree withered and died in the mid-17th century, that much is known. Why
a sole tree was considered worthy of a memorial in stone – thought to be erected in the 18th century – is not, although there’s been no shortage of suggestions in the ensuing years.
The tree may have been used by archers to hang their bows upon during practice sessions
of skinning bucks and hanging their ‘cases’ (the old English word for skin) from the tree as part of the butchering process.
One Oxford professor of modern history has suggested the name is a corruption of the family name Brocas, while another possible explanation can be found in a narrow field very nearby, still known as the ‘Bowcast.’ The field is so called because it’s 400 yards in length, which was about the maximum
It’s not even certain why the mighty
oak came to be known as the Bocase tree. In Saxon times (5th to 11th centuries) a ‘Bocas’ meant a list of people claiming forest rights and
range of an arrow shot from a bow. The tree may have been used by archers to hang their bows upon during practice sessions.
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