The Oaks of Bradgate Park - Vanessa

When Lady Jane Grey was beheaded in 1554, whoever was in charge of the family estate, Bradgate Park in Leicestershire, 'beheaded' all the oak trees growing there - or so I was told as I was growing up in the area. For sure, the park now boasts many wonderful oak trees still showing the shape of their beheading, more than 450 years later. Here is an ink sketch that doesn't do justice to these proud trees.