From the Railway Carriage by Robert Louis Stephenson

How did Oswestry get it's name?

To begin our topic, we discovered the legend of St Oswald and Oswald's tree.....
​“King Oswald sat in his large, wooden chair, covered in ornate carvings. He was plotting something…..something big that would change the history of England. He was powerful and
brave. He had a new religion, Christianity, and he wanted it to become the religion that all the people of England would follow and believe in."
 
I wonder what medieval Oswestry would have looked like. What would the houses have looked like? What sights and smells would there be? We looked at pictures of medieval settlement and houses. What can we see?
 
We drew and recreated a medieval settlement on a large piece of paper.

​"A young squire was sat was outside his home on his grand estate. He had heard the news that King Oswald was forming an army to battle against King Penda or Mercia. He knew that Christianity was becoming the main religion in England and he too wanted to follow. Should he join the army to defeat King Penda of Mercia? He knew he had the wealth to buy the armour he needed."
What would he need to do to become a knight and fight in the battle?
"The squire had proven his bravery and skill, he would become a knight at the age of twenty-one. He gained the title of knight at a "dubbing" ceremony. At this ceremony he would kneel before another knight, lord, or king who would then tap the squire on the shoulder with his sword making him a knight."

King Penda battled against Oswald in The Battle of Maserfield, where King Oswald was killed by King Penda. The name of the town, Oswestry, or “Oswald’s Tree”, is believed to have come from Oswald’s death there.