Building record 4735/0/1 - Bocase Stone at TL 9504 8775

Commemorative stone, possibly 18th century. Records the location of the 'Bocase tree'.

{1} Boundary stone, possibly medieval/post medieval in date. SP95038775. Possibly Scheduled.

{4} Monument. Date indeterminate, probably C18th. Limestone ashlar. Rectangular tablet. Inscription at bottom of slab, "Here Stood Bocase Tree" and inscription at top of slab, "In This Place Grew Bocase Tree". Probably a forest boundary marker.

{6} Undated photo and four photos dated 1st March 1994;

{7} On the path bisecting Bocase Farm and Harry's Park Wood, the Bocase stone commemorates the Bocase tree. It is a limestone slab leaning backwards at 30 degrees and inscribed at the top. The Boase tree is said to have been a large, hollow oak marking the meeting point of parish boundaries. There are many legends and stories associated with it including of a fairy princess granting an old man a temporary renewal of youth, another that when escaping from an ambush at Brigstock Church, Robin Hood and his men hid their bows and arrows in the tree (bow case?) and another is that the tree blew down in 1605 as the gunpowder plotter Francis Tresham was arrested from beneath it. The latter story seems to be easily contradicted since the tree was still depicted on maps dating to the early 1700s.

<1> 1958, OS 6 INCH MAP, (unchecked) (Map). SNN37770.

<2> 1979, Northamptonshire Past and Present (6/2), p.72 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN57085.

<3> Markham C.A., 1901, The Stone Crosses of Northamptonshire, p.29-30 (unchecked) (Report). SNN5725.

<4> Clews Architects, 1980s, Database for Listing of Historic Buildings of Special Architectural Interest: Northamptonshire, 3/39 (Digital archive). SNN102353.

<5> List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest ("Greenback"), G09 (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41470.

<6> Photographs of buildings in Brigstock (Photographs). SNN111673.

<7> Matt Shardlow, 2018, Country diary: this flailed landscape still has stories to tell (Article). SNN117150.

Record last edited

Jul 28 2026 12:24PM