Tree Information: ID 1283

• Species: Pedunculate Oak
  (Quercus robur)
• Council: Epping Parish: Abbess, Beauchamp and Berners Roding
• Form: MaidenStatus:Notable
• Girth: 3.1mHeight:10-15Age:1800-1850
• Context: Churchyard
• TPO number: Veteran Tree No.:VT ABBR022
• Grid Ref: TL 60192 10050
  
• Accessibility: Public - partial access next to right of way
• Nominator: Ian Lawrence
• Date Entered: 26 Sep 2007
• Photograph©Date taken:

Reason for nomination:

• This is a large sprawling Oak tree. It has interesting and unusual shaped branches. Situated in a beautiful and remote part of Essex it provides a shady and peaceful spot to enjoy a picnic with my family. I am sure that this old tree which has guarded over the dilapidated village church, has seen many locals christened, married and buried.

Remarks & Tree condition:

• This fine oak stands on the old moat of Berners Hall beside All Saints Church. Berners Roding Church (dedication uncertain, but believed to be All Saints) lies within the small hamlet of Berners Roding, which is approximately 6 miles north east of Chipping Ongar. Situated to the west of Berners Hall (a 16th Century part-moated farmhouse) the church is accessed via a narrow grass track or raised causeway on its southern side. Arable fields surround the church on its eastern boundary with the Hall and farm complex to the west, the road to the south and a small grass field to the north. The precise origins of the church are unknown, but there are elements of the building that date back to the 14th Century. The Chancel and the Nave of the church are of an unknown date, but the east and west walls are known to be 16th Century in date . The church did at one time have a tower that held a single bell. (Built by John Dyer in 1594). In the book “The Buildings of England – Essex” by Nikolaus Pevsner. It makes reference to the church and describes it with a weather-boarded belfry with pyramid roof. Pevsner's survey of Essex was evidently carried out before the winter of 1953/54, and the book was first published in 1954. It follows the tower must have been pulled down post 1953. The church itself is Grade 2 listed, but unfortunately is in a poor state of repair. The north nave wall is structurally unsound and this has led to the buildings inclusion on the Essex buildings at risk register.