WALNUT
TREE and COFFIN LANE
Bernard O'Connor
2000
By the crossroads outside St
Mary’s Church used to stand an ancient walnut tree. It was only recently cut
down when the new houses on the corner were erected, hence the name Walnut Tree
Road. The Romans brought walnuts from the Mediterranean when they settled in
Britain but it is unknown whether this grew from a seed. The road running over
the ridge top, past two thatched cottages and westwards down the hill to what
was Victoria Farm, is known as Green Lane. An indication of its age is that it
includes eight species of trees and shrubs including oak, crab apple, maple and
dogwood. It passes a pond on the left that used to be a clay pit from the 19th
century brickworks and an overgrown clay pit from the same works on the right.
The lane that led from the
church to Everton Manor House, past the old vicarage and onto Potton Road has
what is reported to be one of the finest holly hedges in the country. It was down this lane that the coffins were
carried into the church.