89
THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX.
By J. C. SHENSTONE.
[Read June 23rd, 1894.]
" Time made thee what thou wast—King of the Woods !
And Time hath made thee what thou art, a cave
For owls to roost in,"
Cowper "Yardley Oak."
SOME time ago our member, Mr. R. Miller Christy, suggested that
we should together collect material for a paper of oak trees in
Essex remarkable either for their age and size, or their historical
and topographical associations. In consequence of more pressing
matters, Mr. Christy has left the work in my hands, and I now.
venture to submit the results of the inquiry to the Club, although I
have not by any means completed the search for notable Essex oak
trees. I hope that by affording data which will enable others to
judge as to what may be considered a tree worthy of record in our
county, I may interest and encourage them to add to our information
on the subject.1
It may be safely said that no member of our British Flora
surpasses the oak in interest. The tree is intimately connected with
our history from the earliest period, though in recent times the
advent of "ironclads," and other changes in the art of naval
architecture have robbed it of much of the romance which clung
about it when "our ships were British oak, and hearts of oak our
men." Volumes might be written about the uses our forefathers
found for its timber; for their buildings, as may be seen in the roofs
and carvings of our historic houses and churches ; for their furniture
in the days when the household belongings were made to be handed
down from generation to generation; for their art work, as may be
exemplified by the beautiful oak carvings in our museums and
galleries ; with the bark they tanned the hides of their cattle, and in
the days when more than half our country was "King's Forest," the
acorn was of extreme value, as may be seen by a glance through the
1 The illustrations of this paper are taken, unless otherwise stated, from photographs by Mr.
Shenstone, who has also very kindly presented the blocks to the Club. Mr. Shenstone writes
respecting his own drawings :—"I think that some explanation is needed with regard to the
illustrations. I felt that a paper on oak trees would be incomplete without pictures. The trees
being spread through the length and breadth of our county, it was not practicable to send an
artist to make careful drawings. T therefore had no choice but to do the best I could myself. In
most instances I photographed these trees, and from my photographs made the drawings.
Though, no doubt, these are open to much criticism from an artist's point of view, I believe I am
justified in stating that they correctly represent the condition of the several trees at the present
time."
The pictures of the Cuckoo Oak (fig. 4), the Pulpit Oak (fig. 5), and Theydon Oak (fig. 6),
are from drawings from nature, kindly presented by Mr. H. A. Cole.—Ed.