The ancient oak that gave ‘Gartree’ its name

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The Gartree was a sacred oak tree to the north east of Kibworth Harcourt where an ancient track crossed the Roman road Via Devana, now known as Gartree Road. It gives its name to HMP Gartree and also the Gartree electoral division of Leicestershire. It was here that open-air meetings took place from the tenth century to the eighteenth century where jurors, drawn from the local villages, handed out justice and administered taxes each month. BBC Leicester’s Ben Jackson uncovers the story with historian Peter Liddle. Produced by Pete Wardman. If you want to know as soon as a new episode is available, make sure you subscribe to Secret Leicestershire on BBC Sounds and have push notifications turned on.