One of the Oldest Gospel Oaks in England

It was planted in roughly 643AD, just 20 years after the burial of King Rædwald

Polstead is a lovely village close to the Suffolk / Essex border. It’s name means ‘place by the pool’, undoubtedly a reference to the large pond that sits at the village’s south-western edge, close to the church.

Between the church and Polstead Hall stands the diminished remnants of the now-dead Polstead gospel oak. Gospel oaks were not uncommon features of Anglo-Saxon village life. They were often located at boundaries, cross-roads or other liminal spaces and, in some cases, likely possessed an earlier heathen significance. During the ‘beating of the bounds’ – a ritualised walking of the parish boundaries by the community – gospel oaks were used as focal points for prayer.