Evidence on Site: Boscobel House

Where Charles II Hid from Parliament

An introduction to a house where Charles II hid from the Roundheads. Boscobel, near Wolverhampton, England, was an isolated hunting lodge in a forest when the future king fled there after his defeat at Worcester in 1651. While Parliament's forces searched the area, Charles, dressed in servant's clothes, hid in an oak tree and later in a priest's hole within the house. This single dramatic event acted like a time-bomb on Boscobel. When the story became public after Charles's coronation, seventeenth-century tourists flocked to see the oak tree, tearing off branches as souvenirs and eventually killing it - but the house was unaffected. Not until it was sold in the early nineteenth century did the time-bomb explode. The new owners celebrated Boscobel's past by remodeling the house as they thought it might have been in Charles's time. Their view of history was an entertaining mixture of fact and fiction, so many features of the house are not what they seem to be, and need close inspection before one can assess their origins. This documentary explains the complicated history of the house, and the effects of an historic event on a quiet country dwelling. It also raises questions about how we look at the past which are applicable to any site.

© 1998-2008 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.