Arnold's Oak

Image: © Penny Mayes Taken: 13 Sep 2006

...is thriving, in the field beyond the dead one on the road junction. The tree beyond the hedge looks about the same age as the dead one. I've no idea who Arnold was, but a resident of the farm tells me the house is on a site mentioned in the Doomsday Book as the 'holding of Arnoldton' so I guess he was around in 1085. I have received an email from Sydney Lippingwell who says, "I thought you may be interested to know that there used to be a man-trap in this tree. It had been there so long that the tree had grown round it. My mother's family used to live 100 yards away at Kettle Hill." Update September 2014: an email from Robin Mackay Miller states, "I visited the surviving oak on the weekend, after asking my godfather if the man trap was still there. The man trap is actually still embedded in the live tree in the field behind, although now some 6-8 ft above ground level. It's worth a visit, though there's no sign of the dead tree." Update December 2022: from street view 2009, a new tree had been planted on the junction and was looking quite good on the September 2022 visit of the Google car https://goo.gl/maps/bbjSxMNPZmKczEpc6.

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