Information extracted from ‘A History of Great Yeldham‘ by Adrian Corder-Birch
Recommended reading:
“A History of Great Yeldham” by Adrian Corder-Birch, ISBN 0 9513106 9 0, obtainable from
Mr. Corder-Birch by post at Rustlings, Howe Drive, Halstead CO9 2QL. Price: £6.95 + p&p.
‘The Yeldham Oak’ painted in 1833 by James Ward, R.A. (1769-1859) was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1834. The painting which is 51” x 78.5” was commissioned bt the Teobald family and passed by descent through Georgina Theobald, who married Charles Sabine Augustus Thellusson, the the late Captain Charles Grant Dalton. On the death of Georgina Theobalds father, this painting, together with several sporting paintings by Ward, for which he was renowned, went to the Brodsworth Hall, Yorkshire. The painting remained at Brodsworth until Autumn 1989 when the Trustees of Captain Dalton placed it in Christie’s sale with an estimated value of £200,000 to £250,000. The present Brodsworth Hall built in the 1860’s was a direct result of one of the most celebrated court cases pertaining to a will ever brought, which related to the estate of Peter Thellusson. Brodworth Hall and the majority of its contents is now in the hands of English Heritage. Whilst at Great Yeldham, James Ward and his son, James Claude Ward stayed with the Rev. Lewis Way at Spencers. The Wards were also received by Ambrose Mason, farmer of Old Oak Farm who wanted a portrait of a favourite horse ‘provided the price was not too high’. The Yeldham Oak painting was an unexpectedly difficult task for Ward who made initial sketches in pencil but it was nevertheless a desirable subject for a painter of his stamp. The painting shows Old Oak Farm behind the oak tree with Great Yeldham church tower in the background and includes horses and cattle which were so typical of Ward’s work.
Great Yeldham is probably best known for its ‘Old Oak’, albeit now you can only see an encased trunk filled with concrete. It is registered on the Ancient Tree Inventory as a tree of ‘National Special Interest’.
The early history of the tree is obscure and references to it being recorded in the Domesday Book are wrong. There is not in the whole of Domesday a single instance of any particular tree being mentioned. One of the earliest references to the tree is to be found in the ‘History of Essex’ by a Gentleman (Peter Muilman) published in 1769 which states:-
“……….is a remarkable large oak tree supposed to be upwards of three hundred years old, the stem of which measures in circumference, twenty-seven feet three-quarters, but the height is not in proportion to the bulk, the stem from the ground to the first branches being not above twelve feet high: and the height of the whole not exceeding eighty feet. A person of this parish, near one hundred years of age, declares, that when she was a child, she heard a person, who was older than her by eighty years say, that from his infancy this tree was distinguished by the appellation of the Old Oak.”
The well known Essex historian, Charles F.D. Sperling, M.A., F.R.Hist.Soc., J.P. wrote:-
“The tree was never of exceptional size and many finer trees may be seen but as a handsome growth standing in a prominent position at the fork of the public highway it attracted attention.”
These word by such a learned local historian are undoubtedly true. Much has been written about the tree during the last couple of hundred years and even a poem (p.61 & 62 of Essex Review, Vol. XL. 1931).
THE YELDHAM OAK
Hunters’ horns sweet echoes play,
Kiss the ear and die away,
Where brooding round the Monarch’s feet,
Young doves shelter from the heat.
Patriarchal, grim and sage,
Relic of the world’s dim age,
How grandly, though in iron bands,
His trunk, moss-grown and leafless, stands!
Crown’d with gay May’s fair white bud,
The children of primeval blood,
Lightfoot dancing o’er the sods,
Here snag their hymns to sylvan gods.
A thousand years he faced his foes,
Foursquare to every wind that blows;
While still from dust the endless chain
Of being crawled – and crawled again.
When taught the swains that turned the clod,
The Merry little Men of God;
And Wyclif ponder’d o’er the Word,
And Chaucer’s tales gay lovers heard:
When Wars-of-Roses young knights camped,
And Cromwell’s Ironsides’ chargers stamped,
And Hampden brooded, grave and staid,
And Bunyan preached and Barebones prayed.
Woodman! lift no axe for greed,
The Veteran’s right to Honour heed,
Harass not his hoary head,
Too soon old Time shal make his bed.
And at long last – Woe worth the day! –
Where hunters’ horns sweet echoes play;
See beside the ruined wall,
His gnarled and scath’d old carcase fall!
Ernest J. Bryant
The Oak Tree and Old Oak Farm believed to have been photographed by Vero William Taylor of Hedingham in 1860. The photograph was certainly taken before 1863 when the new tree (not appearing in this photograph) was planted. Note the large brick chimney of the Farmhouse which was also known in Wards painting. The farm buildings had been removed by about 1880 from when the cottages shown in the following view were built.
Church Road, the old and new Oak trees and Oak House photographed from Stonebridge Meadow. This view from a postcard posted in 1912 shows the old oak on the left and the new oak on the right both similar heights. The new oak was planted in 1863 by Mrs. Caroline Way of Spencers Grange to commemorate the marriage of the Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark – later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
The old oak tree, with the younger oak tree adjacent and Stonebridge meadow in the background. The old oak is over thirty feet in girth and reputed to be over a thousand years old. This photograph was taken shortly before Sadlers Garage was erected on Stonebridge Meadow.
A similar view a few years later showing Sadlers Garage strategically situated at this prominent road junction. The garage was started in 1928 by Edward Sydney Sadler who owned it for about forty years until it was acquired by G.S. Last Limited.
The horse drawn cart of ‘Rocklight Safe Lamp Oil’ passing the old oak in quiet bygone days on the road where heavy juggernauts now speed along Oak House (previously Old Oak Farm) in the background was built about 1500 on a rectangular plan. Early in the seventeenth century a wing was added at the north end of the west side which are now 1 and 2 Oak House Cottages and contains fragmentary remains of a Kingpost truss. The two gables of the east side of Oak House are shown above and inside there is a sixteenth century moulded ceiling-beam and some early seventeenth century panelling. On the oak tree can be seen some iron bands and rods to brace the branches together. The making and fixing of these iron bands and rods was the first job given to Horace Cooper by his employer John Ives, the village blacksmith. Horace Cooper later owned the blacksmiths shop in succession to John Ives. For many years Horace Cooper was captain of the tower for bell ringing at St. Andrews Church.
The ‘ancient oak’ from a Christmas card sent in 1912. The photographer is undoubtedly causing some interest amongst the large number of spectators gathered around the tree. A traditional meeting place for many was under the Yeldham Oak Tree. It was here that meetings of the National Agricultural Labourers Union were held. In 1894, Great Yeldham was one of a small number of Essex parishes where an agricultural labourer (who was a member of the N.A.L.U.) was elected onto the Parish Council.
The remains of the old oak tree in October 1978 after some of the large limbs had been lopped down on 17th March 1977. The trunk was encased and preserved with concrete and iron bars by public subscription in 1949. Ten years later a bronze plaque giving a brief history of the tree was fixed to it for which a generous donation was given by Leila Stone of California.
