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West Midlands sites to be transformed into coronation meadows

Getty Images Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan GardenGetty Images
Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden is one of 100 historic sites in England that will see meadows created

Eight sites in the West Midlands are among 100 in England set to be turned into wildflower meadows under plans to mark the King's coronation.

They include land at Warwickshire's Kenilworth Castle and Elizabethan Garden, Wroxeter in Shropshire and Herefordshire's Longtown Castle.

English Heritage said it wanted to mark the coronation on 6 May in a "meaningful way".

It added its plans would create a natural legacy.

Kate Mavor, English Heritage's Chief Executive, said the charity wanted to combine two of His Majesty's passions, "nature and heritage".

"We're creating more natural spaces at the heart of our historic properties, ensuring that wildflowers and wildlife can flourish there once again, and helping our visitors to step back into history and experience something with which the sites' historic occupants would have been familiar," Ms Mavor said.

English Heritage Boscobel and White Ladies Priory, ShropshireEnglish Heritage
King Charles II hid at White Ladies Priory in Shropshire in 1651

The other sites across the region include:

  • Boscobel and White Ladies Priory, Shropshire
  • Moreton Corbet, Shropshire
  • Wenlock Priory, Shropshire
  • Rotherwas Chapel, Herefordshire
  • Witley Court and Gardens, Worcestershire

English Heritage said King Charles II took refuge at White Ladies Priory in 1651 after his Civil War defeat, and famously hid in an oak tree at Boscobel House while Oliver Cromwell's soldiers searched for him below.

The Royal Oak field has recently been planted with local green hay, introducing meadow flowers to restore it to its 17th Century setting.

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