The sandy and gravelly tracts in Essex have extensive woodlands, in which the oak is the principal timber tree. Sound oak trees with boles measuring from 16 to 20 feet in girth are scattered through the county. Oak trees of larger dimensions, many in a more or less decayed condition, have been measured and described by Mr. J.C. Shenstone.! Some of these I visited under his guidance in March 1907, and I think the following are worthy of notice:—At Thorrington are four trees from 27 to 31 feet in girth, decayed; at Danbury Park two trees of 31 feet in girth, decayed; at Hatfield Broad Oak the Doodle Oak, 42 feet in girth, decayed ; at Havering-atte-Bower Bedford’s Oak, 27 feet in girth, decayed; in Easton Park the finest tree is 80 feet by 23 feet, sound and vigorous, and there are many old pollards of great size. One of these, covered with burry growths, is 29 feet in girth ; and another, on which the burr is very peculiar from its kidney-shaped lobes, is 334 feet, of which the burr takes up 14 feet. At Marks Hall, near Coggleshall, the property of T. P. Price, Esq., there are very large sound oaks, as well as some relics of the ancient forest; the largest, which is perhaps the finest tree of its kind now standing in the county, is 90 feet by 24 feet 3 inches, and though some large branches are gone on one side it seems sound and vigorous. The only very large oak now left in Epping Forest is the Fairmead Oak, 30 feet in girth, and much decayed. At Thorndon Park, the ancient seat of Lord Petre, are many picturesque relics of the ancient forest; and at Wealside House, Brentwood, is an oak 27 feet in circum- ference of bole.
Mr. E.R. Pratt of Ryston Hall kindly sends me the following account of—
Kett's Oak at Ryston, Norfolk.—In the year 1547 this tree was the trysting- place of the West Norfolk rebels under the brothers Robert and William Kett. The former and the other “ Governors” selected large oak trees under which their Courts sat to administer justice and regulate disorders. The Court in this case did not seem to look upon sheep-stealing as other than a necessary evil, since they left on the tree the following inscription:—
Mr. Prat, your shepe are very fat
and we thank you for that
we have left you the skinnes
to buy your ladye pinnes
and you must thank us for that.
| Dimensions in 1840. | In 1906. | |
| On the ground level, | 46 feet 6 inches. | 49 feet 6 inches. |
| Three feet from the ground, | 27 feet„ 4 inches.„ | 26 feet„ 6 inches.„ |
| Five feet do. | 24 feet„ 3 inches.„ | 23feet„ 11 inches.„ |
From the photograph which accompanied this account it seems that the old tree is still fairly sound and vigorous. In an old map of the seventeenth century Kett’s Oak is marked, showing that it was then known as a landmark.
Other remarkable oaks in Norfolk which I have seen are at Merton Hall, the
1 Essex Naturalist, June 1904.
