Oak Apple Day, 29 May 2023, was celebrated at All  Saints church, Northampton, with a Service of Thanksgiving for the Restoration at 11.30, followed by ‘the wreathing of the statue’ of King Charles II on the church’s facade by the Mayor of Northampton.  Two attempts were needed to get the rather flimsy oak (Quercus) wreath in place around the monarch’s neck.  The wreath soon descended to his waist, and by 4.30 in the afternoon had fallen to the ground.

According to information in the History of Northampton Galleries of the town’s Museum and Art Gallery, after the Restoration Charles II  took steps to prevent Northampton, which had supported the Parliamentarians, from engaging in future insurrections by ordering the destruction of its castle and walls. Later, after a disastrous fire – ‘dismal conflagration’ – in September 1675, he provided 1,000 tons of timber for the rebuilding of All Saints church.