Today, 29 May, is Oak Apple Day.
When I was in Barkby a couple of weeks ago I came across this mosaic, which the villagers have created to commemorate the day and the village's connections with Charles II and the English Civil War.
A Leicester Mercury article from last year quotes Angela Barnett from the Barkby Local History Group explaining what it shows:
"The mosaic features Thomas Marshall, the son of a Barkby blacksmith, who was born in 1621.
"Marshall showed so much promise that Francis Foe, the vicar of St Mary's Church, Barkby, between 1633 and 1662, took on his education.
"Marshall went to Oxford University at a young age, where he became a celebrated scholar, and later a Fellow of Lincoln College.
"He fought in Charles I's army before fleeing to Holland and, in 1681, after years in exile he was made Chaplain in Ordinary to Charles II ...
"The mosaic also depicts the coat of arms of the Pochin family, of Barkby Hall. "Thomas Pochin, 1618-1693, sat in the Long Parliament as MP for Leicester.
"Despite his service in Cromwell's New Model Army, he adroitly welcomed the return of Charles from exile and was rewarded for his new-found loyalty."
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