Boscobel is a
civil parish
In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...
in the east of
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
, England, on the border with
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. To the north is the Staffordshire village of
Bishops Wood.
According to the 2001 census it had a population of 12.
National Statistics
Bridgnorth district parishes Because of its small population, it shares a parish council with the neighbouring Donington parish. It is the smallest parish in Shropshire by population – the smallest by area is Deuxhill
Deuxhill () is a hamlet and very small civil parish in Shropshire, England.
The nearest town is Bridgnorth
Bridgnorth is a town in Shropshire, England. The River Severn splits it into High Town and Low Town, the upper town on the right b ...
.
Boscobel House
It is the site of Boscobel House
Boscobel House () is a Grade II* listed building in the parish of Boscobel in Shropshire. It has been, at various times, a farmhouse, a hunting lodge, and a holiday home; but it is most famous for its role in the escape of Charles II after the B ...
, home to the Giffard family, owners of the Boscobel Royal Oak
The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...
, where Charles II hid in an oak tree after losing the Battle of Worcester
The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell def ...
in 1651.
A historical romance on the subject was published as ''Boscobel'' in 1871 by William Harrison Ainsworth
William Harrison Ainsworth (4 February 18053 January 1882) was an English historical novelist born at King Street in Manchester. He trained as a lawyer, but the legal profession held no attraction for him. While completing his legal studies in ...
.
The "pine groves of Boscobel" are mentioned (twice) by Charles Kinbote
Charles Kinbote is the unreliable narrator in Vladimir Nabokov's novel ''Pale Fire''.
Academic work
Kinbote appears to be the scholarly author of the Foreword, Commentary and Index surrounding the text of the late John Shade's poem "Pale Fire", w ...
, narrator of Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (russian: link=no, Владимир Владимирович Набоков ; 2 July 1977), also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin (), was a Russian-American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist. Bo ...
's 1962 postmodern novel ''Pale Fire
''Pale Fire'' is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional poet John Shade, with a foreword, lengthy commentary and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic col ...
'', in descriptions of his escape from Zembla.
White Ladies Priory
Also in the parish is White Ladies Priory
White Ladies Priory (often Whiteladies Priory), once the Priory of St Leonard at Brewood, was an English priory of Augustinian canonesses, now in ruins, in Shropshire, in the parish of Boscobel, some eight miles (13 km) northwest of Wolver ...
.
See also
*Escape of Charles II
After the final Royalist defeat of the English Civil War against Cromwell's New Model Army at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the future Charles II of England (already by that time King of Scotland) was forced to flee, famously av ...
* Listed buildings in Boscobel
References
External links
Hamlets in Shropshire
Civil parishes in Shropshire
{{Shropshire-geo-stub