The Essex tree with an hilarious name so famous it has its own Facebook page
Essex has some very old buildings, castles, parks and the like that have really withstood the test of time. One is around 800 years old, and probably doesn't get the fame it deserves - as it is quite literally a really old tree.
For those of you who don’t know him, Old Knobbley is a huge and ancient oak tree that lives in Mistley. And for the people with a more rude sense of humour, its name often gets a few chuckles here and there.
However, the tree had an integral part of history and his immense trunk is scarred and riven, testament to the long ages of his life. Through drought and flood, famine, freeze and thaw Old Knobbley has withstood the worst of the elements. For some 800 years he has stood in Furze Wood, just outside Mistley, but the years have not been kind.
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Every injury inflicted over the centuries has healed over as a bizarre, lumpy carbuncle (called a burr in the timber trade), giving him the pocked and gnarled appearance that led to his affectionate nickname. The poor tree has really been through the wars - as in 2018, the tree was set on fire!
It also has a part to play in the witch trials that plagued Essex, too. As the self-styled Witch Finder General, Matthew Hopkins presented himself as a parliamentary official tasked by the government with hunting down witches across East Anglia in the 1600s.
In reality he was nothing more than a fraud, taking advantage of the ignorance and superstition of rural communities and extorting huge fees from them to sniff out the “witches” that plagued them. In terror of Hopkins and his bloodcurdling methods, local legend has it that suspected witches fled to the relative safety of the woods and the shelter of Old Knobbley’s branches.
Some even go so far as to say that the ghosts of the witches, wrongly accused and horribly murdered, haunt Furze Wood still. With its funny name and long history, it is no surprise that Old Knobbley has become quite the local celebrity.
It has its own website and even a Facebook page! It was also a finalist in the 'Tree of the Year' awards back in 2014 - but narrowly missed out on the top spot.