THE OAK TREE IN ESSEX. 111
Mundon Hall Oaks.—At "Mundon Hall," near Maldon, there
is a magnificent collection of oak trees, no less than forty-nine fine
trees in a field of moderate size, and in an adjoining wood there is
another, making fifty in all. A large proportion of these trees have
trunks which have grown to the respectable size of from 16 to
17 feet circumference. It is quite wonderful to find so many well-
grown oaks in one small enclosure. The Hall, though modern, no
doubt replaced some older building, as an extensive moat formerly
surrounded both the hall and church. Very probably the group
of oaks is the remains of a park.
Quendon Hall Oak.—One of the finest trees in Essex, in its full
luxuriance of growth without a sign of decay, is the oak at Quendon
Hall, Newport. Its stem is 20 feet 2 inches in girth at three feet
Fig. 26.—Oak at Quendon Hall.
from the ground, and it is a truly magnificent tree. In a few
centuries, if no mishap occurs, this may rival the Great Hempstead
oak. In the same park there is another fine tree 17 feet 3 inches in
girth.
Mistley Oaks.—There appear to be oak trees in almost every
district with trunks measuring from fifteen to nineteen feet in girth.
In the park at Mistley, near the "Dairy Farm," is an oak in luxuriant
growth (fig. 27), the boughs of which cover a circle of 11 of feet
in diameter, the trunk being 16 feet 8 inches in circumference at
five feet from the ground On the verge of a hill in the north-east
of the park, is a tree the boughs of which cover a circle