7th December 2023
Essex ATF Local Group: Field Trip to Danbury Lakes Country Park- 29 October 2023
Ancient Tree Forum Essex Local Group visit to Danbury Lakes Country Park
near Chelmsford Essex.
Sunday 29th October 2023
Image credit: Bo Chapman
Building on the success of the first two walks held earlier in the year, it was time for the Essex chapter to host another event. After various sites were considered, Danbury Lakes was settled on.
Owned by Essex County Council since the late nineteen forties it has been a Country Park since 1974. Covering a mere twenty five percent of the former grounds it is still an impressive place.
In its early years it was developed into a deer park and hints of those times are left in the topography of the land. It boasts three impressive lakes which are thought to date from that period.
The ATF were well represented on the day with a decent amount of volunteers on hand to help guide the attendees through the walk. Jim Chambers, Steve Woodley, Matt Searle, Annie Hooper and Robin Hellier were all present in their `Low Viz’ tabards.
Image credit: Bo Chapman
Whilst the volunteers waited for attendees to arrive the heavens decided to open. The rain began to fall and would provide a backdrop for the entire duration of the visit. But still people began to arrive. In ones and twos the group started to grow, till eventually we had approximately thirty five people ready to go.
Initial safety briefing completed the group headed off led by ever enthusiastic Jim Chambers.
Image credit: Bo Chapman
The first main stop was at stunning old standing dead oak. A shadow of its former self, Its hollow form polished by thousands of hands and feet, it was highlighted as an example of the cultural importance of standing dead trees. One of the volunteers was actually photographed as a five year old in that very tree, it being present in its current form fifty years ago at least!
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
Next we headed to the bottom lake and started looking at some oak pollards of venerable age. This allowed for discussions on various topics covering management pressure including compaction and disease.
Image credit: James Chambers (on an earlier site recce when it wasn’t raining!)
A little further on some oak and beech trees offered up some resident fungi, and nearby a fallen ‘phoenix’ holly stimulating yet more debate.
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
Pressing on we came to the Ice house. A fantastic reminder of the days gone by and useful aid in helping to understand the landscape. Moving on we paused at yet more great old pollards and made our way towards the middle lake. Oak after pollarded oak was paused at, discussed and admired.
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
The weather was very wet, to say the least, so we were not able to spend as long as we might have with some of the trees, and decided to omit parts of the planned walk for practical reasons. This meant that we missed some of the great individual trees, so we may well return to this lovely park in the future.
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
At this point I would just like to say thank you to all those people who attended that day. We were so lucky to have many people attend who are not directly involved in the tree Management world, especially on such a rainy day!
As well as interested professionals we also had forest school educators and members of the general public in our ranks so the age spread was impressive. We are very pleased to see our desire not just to preach to the converted coming to fruition. Everyone stuck out the weather and seemed to get a lot out of the day.
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
Image Credit: Bo Chapman
Passing the top lake we choose a careful route to avoid a couple of trees we planned to return to, as perhaps the highlight of the walk. But the upper woodland contains several stunning veterans, so we still had plenty to see and discuss.
Image Credit: James Chambers (on an earlier site recce when it wasn’t raining!)
Several large oaks and one large Sweet Chestnut in particular are worth a visit to the site on their own and yet they are surrounded by many more fantastic examples. Tree after tree allowed for questions to be voiced by the group, leading to interesting discussions, something we’re always keen to encourage between all parties. These events are for everyone to enjoy.
We arrived as another remarkable pair of trees, a dead beech monolith and huge old oak pollard, where the forest school team were kind enough to share a story about the old beech tree. Many years ago before the war, many couples had carved their initials together in recognition of their relationships, and sadly this would be the last time many of those couples were together, a poignant reminder of the cultural significance that large old trees often have.
Image Credit: James Chambers (on an earlier site recce when it wasn’t raining!)
The dead beech tree itself also offers more information, as well intentioned management some years back is very likely the cause of the tree’s demise. Another useful lesson in how we are still learning about the best and most appropriate ways to manage old trees, and when intervention is actually necessary.
Later we finally arrived at what was the perfect end point for the walk. As we have in the past, we had prepared a ‘secret’ level 2 (and a brief level 3) for anyone who wanted to stay, but felt that the continuous rain would probably have deterred most on this occasion. And yet the vast majority of people wanted to continue even with poor weather. A testament to how much people had taken from the day.
Image credit: Bo Chapman
So, we did carry on, not quite as we had planned, but visited another area of the park containing several lovely old trees including one more hollowed out old monolith that was another focus of interest.
Image credit: James Chambers
All in all this was another great success, despite the inclement weather, and the ATF Essex chapter extends our sincere gratitude to all the attendees, who make these walks such an interesting and rewarding experience for all involved.
We are already looking forward to our next veteran tree walk this year, details to follow shortly!
Steve Woodley and James Chambers
Linda DOLATA says:
Posted December 17, 2023 at 9:01 am
I was on yesterday’s superb trip around Mistley which included ancient oaks , mostly pollarded , some up to 700 years old, and on,e OLD KNOBBLEY, reputedly 800 years old. There was a lot of discussion re the history of the site, with many , myself included, feeling that it had to have been a Deer Park/Wood Pasture some centuries ago. I searched about (on Google), and there was MISTLEY OLD HALL, commissioned by Richard Rigby in 1680, demolished 1844.(estate sold off in lots, looks as if owner went bankrupt ??) A contemporary print shows a stately hall in open landscaped grounds with a couple of large trees visible. I couldn’t work out where it stood, but the Stable block still exists in the village, so it wouldn’t be too hard to extrapolate. Previous history mentions the MISTLEY ESTATE was forfeit to the crown in1543, and ‘hunting site ‘is also mentioned, so evidence does seem to point to it having been a deer park a long time ago. I’m sure more could be gleaned if anyone is interested.
James Chambers says:
Posted December 28, 2023 at 5:08 pm
Hi Linda, it was good to see you again, glad you enjoyed the walk. What an amazing site, so many trees of national special interest! And what a lovely, interactive group sharing interesting questions and information. See you on the next walk, soon!
James