| Abstract | Yew Tree House and its Walnut tree
The author`s great grandfather bought Yew Tree House, West Mersea, with its large field in 1840, and a walnut tree reputed to be 400 years old when the tree collapsed fifty years ago.
At the end of the eighteenth century the manor of West Mersea was owned by Mrs Martha Simpson of Kennington and others. My Great Grandfather John Pullen bought Yew Tree House with its large field in 1840 from Mrs Simpson and her co-owners. His two sons, George and William, lived in the semi-detached cottages in the south-west corner of the field. When great-grandfather died George moved into Yew Tree House with his family of twelve. The last three, Priscilla, Albert and Charlie were born there.
The largest walnut tree in England at Yew Tree House, West Mersea. The tree was believed to be over four hundred years old when it split in a gale about 50 years ago [c1932].
The glory of Yew Tree House was its walnut tree. Reputed to be over 400 years old I dare to think it was planted by a monk before the Dissolution by Henry VIII. This magnificent tree, the largest in England, was preserved by Essex County Council in its last years. Huge quantities of cement bound the trunk when the branches collapsed fifty years ago. It should have lived another 200 years, but examination of my photograph shows two-thirds of the branches weighted down one side of the trunk only a third the other. The uneven distribution caused the collapse.
Grandfather Pullen sold the bumper crops of eating walnuts at ten-pence per hundred. The money helped augment his income from seed-growing, an area set apart on the whole of the Yew Tree House field and bushes, and field on East Road, which still has a house standing on it which was there in grandfather`s lifetime. He died in the 1890s.
There was a branch of a famous Priory reputed on Yew Tree field, though no trace of it has been found. It was the oldest religious house after Barking and labelled "alien", being a branch of the great Abbey of St. Ouen at Rouen. In 1202 it was the property of William, Bishop of London, who acknowledged receiving, besides livestock, 166 acres of wheat, 106½ acres of oats. 11½ acres of barley, 7½ acres of beans and peas and 221 acres of summer fallow! Queen Elizabeth granted the manor to the same lord.
Thomas May bought the manorial rights from Mrs Simpson and partners. He married Mary Ann Pullen, grandfather`s sister, as his fifth wife. I expect the previous four had died, either in childbirth or when children were young. Mary Anne was only a young girl when she married and gave Mr. May a son, Edward, who died at the age of twenty-one. She was left an eligible parti when her husband died, with a substantial house, Brierley Hall, and a comfortable income. She married John Ward of Rewsalls Farm, East Mersea. My father said: "Johnny Ward liked a bit of horse flesh," i.e . he bred them but he didn`t make a fortune from Rewsalls. The Wards had no children to inherit it. The present Youth Camp, now running for some years, is sited on Rewsalls.
Walnut Tree Cottage, High Street, West Mersea, now a cafe and art shop, the foundations of which were found to be covered with empty walnut shells.
The walnut trees standing in gardens on the west side of High Street must be descendants of Yew Tree House`s magnificent tree. They are eating walnuts too. One is in the garden of Walnut Tree Cottage, recently converted from a dwelling house to a cafe and art shop. The proprietor told me when the foundations were examined during renovations they were found to be covered with empty walnut shells. Rats had found a good home. Part of Walnut Tree Cottage started life in Peldon as a village recreation room. I knew it seventy years ago, it had only one storey, lived in in its south end by W.H. Traveller, a former licensee of the White Hart. He was first secretary of Court 'Sailor`s Home', a branch of the Ancient Order of Foresters` Friendly Society, opened in 1867. Mr Traveller is recorded as secretary in 1868, being landlord of an inn qualified him for the secretaryship. Opposite the White Hart was a large green, much larger than today`s.
There on Foresters` Feast Day, a summer day, stood the roundabout with its music, at first provided by a barrel organ, hand operated. Later mechanical music took its place. There stood the rock stall. One Feast day the stall owner took cover in a sudden shower and the boys hanging round helped themselves! A Colchester band headed the Foresters, led by Bro. William Munson, followed by the officers wearing their green, gold and red sashes of office. The member paraded round the village on the morning of the Feast Day. They would stop for refreshment at the Fountain and the Fox. Their last stopping place would be Kingsland House, the Vicarage, to serenade their first trustee, the Rev. T.R. Musselwhite, Back to the White Hart for the Feast. They were ready for it; great joints of beef, vegetables and plum duff to follow. Everyone had enough for once. It was a time of low wages, and not many feasts in a year.
When Walnut Tree Cottage last changed hands the estate agent wondered why the staircase started from the kitchen. I knew. The second storey was added about 1930 and only covered half the building so the kitchen was the most convenient way to the upper story. Previously, Mr Traveller when he retired from the White Hart lived there and ran a social club for Mersea men in the north end. There was a billiards table. Len Pullen at the grocery store next door tells me his father played billiards there. The daily papers would arrive by Rudlin of Cudmore, carriers, and be read a day late.
Someone had given books and Uncle Charlie Pullen, to my delight, would bring in bound volumes of "The Quiver" and "Sunday at Home." I could follow a serial through the year`s twelve monthly instalments; no small treat in those days when there was no public library and few books.
Daisy Brand
My elder sister Daisy was a pretty girl, had brown curly hair and brown eyes with good features. Sixteen years older than I, she was a teacher at the local school and was married when I was seven years old.
Mr Traveller often gave her a rose on the way to school; he had had enough experience at the White Hart to know a pretty girl when he saw one.
Article from Essex Countryside August 1982, transcribed by Joe Vince August 2025.
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