THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 97
the moment when the execution was completed. 'Ah, ah ! it is done,' said he,
starting up, 'the business is done ; uncouple the dogs, and let us follow the
sport.' On the succeeding morning he was married to Jane Seymour."4
Lock, in his "Essay Concerning the Human Understanding,"
(1825 Ed., p. 243) refers to this oak: "The well-known tree in
Epping Forest called the King's Oak, which, from not weighing an
ounce at first, grew to have many tons of timber in it." The tree
has long since disappeared. An inn called the "King's Oak"
indicates the locality where it formerly stood.
Fairmead Oak.—At High Beach there is still a fine oak at
Fig. 4.—Cuckoo or Bedford Oak, Epping Forest.
"Fairmead Lodge." Its bole measures 29 ft. and 30 ft. in cir-
cumference at different heights. The tree and the Lodge were
illustrated by Mr. H. A. Cole in The Essex Naturalist for 1893
(Vol. vii., p. 86).
"Cuckoo" or "Bedford" Oak.—We have also in Epping Forest
an oak tree formerly called the "Cuckoo Oak," but more recently
named "Bedford Oak," in honour of the Councillor of the City
of London of that name who did so much towards rescuing Epping
4 I am indebted for this extract to Mr. B. G. Cole.