Hidden East Anglia:

Landscape Legends of Norfolk & Suffolk

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In the days when parish boundaries were not so well fixed by maps, it was the custom at certain times of the year for the clergyman and his parishioners to walk the limits of their village, which were often marked by local landmarks such as stones, ditches, fords and ancient trees.

Under particularly notable trees - usually old oaks - the parson would stop to pray and read passages from the Gospels. Thus many parishes had their own 'Gospel Oak', the most well-known in East Anglia being that at Polstead in Suffolk. All the others that I could find a record of were also in that county:

Barking: In a field to the east of the churchyard driveway is a Gospel Oak (TM078537) that locals claim to be over 2000 years old. Certainly of a respectable age, it's dead now.

Chevington: "In a lease of the 1st year of Queen Elizabeth from Sir Clement Heigham, of lands in Chevington (near Bury), occur one meadow called the New Mede, and one other piece of ground, being leye, next a bush called the Gospel Bush".

Source: 'The East Anglian, or Notes & Queries', Vol.2, p.370.

Combs: Between St. Mary's church and a farm at Combs is the dead trunk of the Holy Oak (TM051566) after which the farm is named. In former times, it's said that a large metal-bound Bible was chained to the tree, and the village people used to gather there at night to hear the Gospels read.

Source: 'The East Anglian, or Notes & Queries', Vol.7 (1897-8), pp.5-6.

Haughley: A Gospel Oak is said to have existed in Haughley Park.

Hawstead: "On the parish boundary to the south-west, on an eminence, stood the majestic 'Gospel Oak'."

Source: H. R. Barker: 'West Suffolk Illustrated' (Pawsey & Co, 1907.)

Lavenham: The Gospel Oak (TL897491) stood by the side of the Lavenham to Bridge Street road until it was struck by lightning in 1944 and burned to the ground. This spot is where the parishes of Lavenham, Long Melford and Acton meet, and is mentioned in a late Anglo Saxon estate boundary charter as 'Heregeresheafod' - a sharp bend in the Acton bounds where the ploughs would turn, meaning 'Heregere's headland'. But there's no mention of the oak.

Other notable trees:

Bale, Norfolk: The Bale Oak was a giant until its collapse in 1870. It stood very near to All Saints church, on a triangular plot of wooded land that today is owned and administered by the National Trust (TG010367), and harbours a grove of holm oaks planted to replace it. So large was it that 20 men could well stand inside it without touching each other, and the phrase 'as big as Bale Oak' was a common one when talking of something extremely large. 

The 'Illustrated London News' of May 17th 1845 said that "the trunk alone remains as a memorial to its former magnificence...Some years ago it was used as the place of abode of a cobbler who carried on his trade in it for an entire summer, having for the convenience of his occupation cut a doorway in the shell". The 18th century antiquary John Frere disagreed on its size, noting a "Hollow so large that 10 or 12 men may stand within it. A cobler had his Shop and lodge there of late, and is or was used for a swinesty". It was severely pollarded in 1795 and never recovered.

Benacre, Suffolk: Presumably the Money Tree at Benacre gained its name after, not before, the discovery of a coin hoard in its roots. Moneytree Clump (TM498841) still stands on the edge of the Benacre Park estate, beside the road from Kessingland to Wrentham, which was straightened and made into a turnpike in 1786. During this work a stone bottle was unearthed at the spot, containing over 900 Roman silver coins, "mostly in good preservation, and none older than the time of Vespasian. Sir Thomas Gooch bought 700 of them, and the remainder were sold to a Jew, who retailed them at a low rate in the neighbourhood". A few yards further south, another cache of coins was found in 1740.

Source: 'The East Anglian Miscellany', 1917/19, Note 4838.

Bridgham, Norfolk: The Bridgham High Tree was a lofty poplar set on a ridge near Bridgham in the Breckland area, planted in the 18th century, and designed to guide travellers over the heath.

Bungay, Suffolk: On Manor Farm near Bungay used to be two ancient and knotted elms known as the Siamese Twins. Because they were joined naturally by a short branch at a height of about 3 feet, they were sometimes called the 'Letter H Trees' (TM342878). They fell in the winter gales of 1977.

Nacton, Suffolk: The lost parish of Hallowtree, which contained Alnesbourne Priory, is now contained within that of Nacton, and was named after a 'holy tree' that once existed here. The name Hallowtree now survives only as a Scouting campsite at TM194408.

Watton, Norfolk: The Court for the Wayland Hundred was held at the Hundred Oak, marked on a 1773 map as standing near the northern edge of Wayland Wood.

Worlingham, Suffolk: The carved and painted Worlingham village sign (TM444898) shows, against a backdrop of flowing river, swans and rippling fields, a certain Martin Sutton, village cobbler, a plump and jolly man sitting in the opening of a hollow oak with a shoe-last between his knees, and the tools of his trade set out neatly on shelves inside the tree. A tradition says that a blacksmith also once shod a horse within the long-gone tree.