Apparent loss of a local landmark

Sun 20 Aug 2023, 20:20

Nick Jones, the tree is on private ground, so no footpaths.

Sat 12 Aug 2023, 12:03

Some of the carving was clear enough last June:

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gvsewrs8qevejxi4c4pmw/IMG_0286.HEIC?rlkey=smb6ezdws0qcofdximk3svv3y&dl=0

Sat 12 Aug 2023, 10:10

I read that the actual tree was in a different location?

Fri 11 Aug 2023, 09:17 (last edited on Fri 11 Aug 2023, 09:20)

OS maps are on bing maps as an option. V useful indeed. 

Thu 10 Aug 2023, 21:35

A fascinating but grim bit of local history. Douglas, do you have any tips for how to visit the tree? I am struggling to work out where the nearest footpath is. 

Mon 7 Aug 2023, 16:59

I can confirm that the tree that the Dunsdon brothers were gibbetted from in July 1784 still stands strong and healthy on Capp's Lodge Plain, alongside the A361. This tree is clearly marked on Google maps.

Photo of the gibbet tree taken 07 August 2023 © Douglas Rudlin

Mon 17 Oct 2011, 09:32

And aren't they the original 'Tom, Dick & Harry'?....

Sat 15 Oct 2011, 11:16

Just found more in 'Charming Charlbury' (pp 67-8 and 161-2), where John Kibble says a stonemason from Fulbrook used to recarve the intials each year. Around 1930 the grandson of the constable who was called out for the murder told Kibble he had in his possession the five pistols taken from the brothers. I wonder where they are now?!

Sat 15 Oct 2011, 11:09

"Three brothers, Harry, Tom and Dick Dunsdon were famous 18th century highwaymen in Oxfordshire. Legend has it that Sampson Pratley fought one of these brothers in the Royal Oak Inn in Field Assarts. The fight was really a wager to see who was the strongest and the prize was to be a sack of potatoes for the winner. Sampson Pratley won, but never got his potatoes as two of the brothers were caught shortly afterwards and hanged at Gloucester in 1784. Their bodies were brought back to Shipton-under-Wychwood and gibbeted from an oak tree. Dick Dunsdon had bled to death when Tom and Harry had had to cut off one of his arms to free his hand which was trapped in a door-shutter, as they were attempting to rob a house."

That's from www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/England-History/Highwaymen.htm so the initials would have been carved in 1784 if by the brothers themselves. There are photos of the tree as it was until recently on Google Images (search for Dunsdon gibbet). There's a photo (which would appear from later than 1996) and another account at www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1447209

I dare say the people who run the Wychwoods Local History Society could help further: www.wychwoodshistory.org/

Hope this helps you, Ed. And it may interest others who know less about the Dunsdons than you!!

Sat 15 Oct 2011, 10:34 (last edited on Mon 7 Aug 2023, 20:25)

Can anyone shed any light on the disappearance of the so-called Dunsdons' gibbet tree, which used to be visible from around where the Charlbury?"Burford road meets the Chipping Norton?"Burford road (A361)? According to local legend, the Dunsdon brothers were a trio of notorious highwaymen who were hanged from the tree for a murder they committed at nearby Knaps Lodge: and before their execution, they carved their initials into the tree. I'm not sure how much of the story is true, but the brothers certainly existed (they were born in Fulbrook); their initials were clearly visible on the trunk till four or five years ago, if not more recently; and an old photograph from around the turn of the last century shows that the initials had already been there for some considerable time.

The tree was long dead, giving rise to the legend that it was somehow cursed, so if it has now been felled (and I certainly can't see it from the road any more), did whoever removed it know about its significance? Was any of it preserved in any way? Or was it just shredded or chopped up for firewood? I'd be interested to know more about its fate.