Mother Bruin is a large oak tree that stands on the left side of Mitford Road (church end). When the tree was measured in 1980s it was 7 yards + 21 inches in width (approx. 7 metres). When it was measured in November 2019 it was 25 feet in width (7.62 metres). So, Mother Bruin isn’t any ordinary oak tree, it’s an Ancient Oak.
The Woodland Trust states that an Ancient Oak’s characteristics are:
- Far fatter than usual with a very wide trunk
- Gnarled
- Showing signs of decay
- May look in poor shape but is probably very healthy for its age
Oak trees can live to be 800-1000 years old but what is the likely date of Mother Bruin? There are several calculators online but using the Woodland Trust’s ready reckoner mother Bruin is about 500-600 years old!
There has been a poem written about Mother Bruin based on an old story passed down through the centuries.
According to Dick Cooper, Benhall Historian:
The story goes that that one of the Duke’s daughters (Sir Edward Duke) was planning to elope with a Mr. Bruen, he being the rival to Edmund Tyrell for the girl’s hand in marriage. Edmund Tyrell masqueraded as the coachman for the elopement and at the end of the drive from Old Benhall Lodge where it joins Mitford Road he stopped the coach and forced Bruen out and they fought a duel which, legend tells us, is how Tyrell won the hand of Anne Duke! At this junction stands “Bruen’s Oak” to mark the spot.
The poem was written by Edward George Ayden known as Ted (1897-1971). He was interviewed by Benhall school-boy Nigel Smith in 1970. Ted recounted that when he was a boy he was told the story of Tyrell and Bruhen by the late schoolmaster John Chambers. He said that he had seen a document with the name Bruhen on it and there was an old oak tree which for as long as he could remember had been known as “Mother Bruin”.
This is Ted’s original poem.
Left: Mother Bruin photo November 2019.
Above: Ted’s original poem written by him in August 1969.
Ted’s granddaughter Yvonne gave permission for the History Group to copy the original in 2026.
As far as there being any truth in the story… Nigel Smith recounts in his History of Benhall:
Edmund Tyrell came from Gipping and was a descendant of Walter Tyrell a Norman Knight who settled and held the Lordship of Langham in the County of Essex. Edmund Tyrell became the next Lord of the Manor after Edward Duke.
Tyrell is mentioned on a plaque at the Old School House, Mitford Road and also on a memorial to the Duke family in St. Mary’s church, Benhall.
Mother Bruin photo March 2026
