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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.
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.
Anniversary Gifts
