King's beech to mark royal visit

The pupils from Roebuck Primary School in Preston will take part in a special ceremony to honour the monarch who is said to have knighted a joint of beef “Sir Loin” at Hoghton Tower in 1617.

They will also be invited to put their own messages in a time capsule which will be buried at the county’s only surviving true baronial hall - and fix a date to return to Hoghton in 50 years time to dig it up again.

The ceremony, supported by the Lancashire Environemental Trust, will take place on March 21. The tree will grow alongside others in the Hoghton Tower Wilderness Garden planted by HRH King George V in 1915, the Duke of Edinburgh in 1986 and a sturdy oak planted more recently in memory of football royalty Sir Tom Finney.

Elena Faraoni, trustee of the Hoghton Tower Preservation Trust, said: “We were looking for different ways to mark the anniversary of King James 1st visit to Hoghton Tower and planting a tree just felt like the right thing to do.

“All the children involved in this experience will hopefully remember this day and come back to visit their tree and perhaps even come back to help dig up the time capsule in 50 years time!”

A spokesperson for Roebuck School said: “The year 4 children have been looking forward to the tree planting for weeks - the opportunity to be part of history doesn’t happen very often. This has sparked an interest in the time period. They definitely have a taste for history as a result of getting ‘hands on’ with it and they will be doing some follow-up work in school”.