Leighton Buzzard Railway is a popular narrow gauge railway in Bedfordshire and is thought to be the only railway in the country to celebrate Royal Oak Day on Bank Holiday Monday (29th May) which saw locomotive Baldwin 778 carry a special headboard to commemorate the traditional event.
Oak Apple Day, which is also known as Royal Oak Day or Restoration Day, is a traditional celebration which is still observed today across several counties.
The special day commemorates the restoration of the English Monarchy as King Charles II returned to the throne on the 29th of May 1660.
History records that the future King, Charles II, hid in the Royal Oak (tree) in Boscobel Wood following the Battle of Worcester in 1651 as the Roundheads searched for him.
Some nine years later, King Charles II claimed this throne, riding victorious into London on the 29th of May, which was also his birthday and from that day on the Restoration was celebrated as a national holiday until its abolishment in 1859.
Royalist sympathisers use the oak as a symbol and the event became known as Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, with a tradition of wearing a sprig of oak leaves or an oak apple as a mark of support for the King.
Oak Apples are galls which are caused by the Oak Apple Gall wasp Biorhiza pallida, which is small in size and causes apple-like growths on oak twigs.
Oak apples can be found between the months of May and June and are formed when the female lays her eggs within the leaf bud which the larva eats its way through before emerging in June and July causing very little harm to the tree but creating a fascinating natural spectacle.
At Leighton Buzzard Railway, Oak Apples can be found next to the railway and are referred to as Oak Marbles, as they are caused by a different gall wasp, Andricus kollari.
This type of wasp was introduced with purpose in the Mediterranean during the 1800s as the galls they form are high in tannin content, which was used in tanning leather or dying fabric.
The Oak Marbles feature tiny dimples on their surface and inside house the wasp larvae which are protected from inclement weather by the gall's woody outer shell and tannins.
To find out more about the wonderful Leighton Buzzard Railway, please visit https://www.buzzrail.uk.
Well until I had read this story, I had never even heard of Royal Oak Day. It is obviously a Southern English tradition, I live in Northern England and didn’t know about it.