Roseline Collection - 1,000 Year Old British Oak

Where is the Oak from? On April 13th 1985 a great fire tore through the historic All Saint's Church, Leighton Buzzard, causing almost the total destruction of the bell tower, which had stood since its completion around 1280. The original church, including the Bell Tower, was nearing the end of a huge restoration process when the fire struck. (For documentary evidence, see the All Saints' Church Leighton Buzzard Website). 150 kilos of the original bell tower's fire damaged oak was salvaged and reclaimed with the full authority of the church wardens. It is with this ancient oak that our exclusive, unique & finite Roseline gift collection has been created by a British Master Craftsman.

How old is the Oak? 1220: The building of All Saints Church, Leighton Buzzard was started during the reign of Edward I. It was built where a Saxon church had once stood. 1277: All Saint's Church dedicated. Source: www.bedfordshire.gov.uk From this information, we date the church and its tower back over 730 years. Obviously the oak from which the tower was built would have to have been a mature tree, i.e. over 250 years old, dating the oak back a minimum of around 1,000 years. At the time the material for the Bell Tower was sourced, a great forest of ancient oaks spread throughout the whole of England, later to be decimated by the great ship building period. Even today there are live standing oaks more than 900 years old. In the late 12th and early 13th Centuries, these would have been common-place and a reliable source of wood for construction. If, as is likely, the All Saint's Church builders chose such great oaks from which to build the Bell Tower - this would date the oak used here at around 1,700 years old.

How has the age of the oak been authenticated? Our Oak comes from two trusted sources: (i) The Church Warden at All Saints', who gave our craftsman permission to take the remaining logs lying in situ at the back of the church after the fire (see the image to the left) and (ii) Ralph Hentell, who was one of the firemen who fought the blaze. Finally, this historic oak is assured by our craftsman with the credentials of being the only person working with the reclaimed fire timbers of the original Bell Tower from All Saints' Church, Leighton Buzzard.

The link to the Roseline & The Holy Grail The oaks used to build the Bell Tower would probably have been cut down sometime during the 12th century, at the precise time the Crusaders started their search for a great and secret power beyond imagination... The Holy Grail. Our wonderful collection features its very own Roseline that inextricably ties together the start of the centuries old quest for the Holy Grail with a material that bore witness to the very time the quest began.

More information There is a book on the subject of All Saints' Church, Leighton Buzzard by Tom Lawson, tracing the church back to it's first Vicar in 1277. The book is available from Amazon. Click here to buy All Saints'Church Leighton Buzzard at Amazon

Why buy from Unique British Gifts? At Unique British Gifts we believe that when giving a gift, the thought should really count. Giving a gift should be as pleasurable as receiving the gift. We have scoured the United Kingdom and hand-selected a range of unique, high quality British-made gifts, each of which is individually handmade to order by a skilled and dedicated British gift designer/maker. Our gifts are 100% British made and the gift you buy will be 100% unique. So, whether you're looking for a unique wedding gift, a unique anniversary gift, a unique birthday gift or just a gift to say "thank you," go on - be different. Buy a gift that's unique. Buy a gift that's been lovingly handcrafted just for you in Britain. Buy a Unique British Gift!