Quercus robur, the pedunculate oak or English oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It grows on soils of near neutral acidity in the lowlands and is notable for its value to natural ecosystems, supporting a very wide diversity of herbivorous insects and other pests, predators and pathogens.
The Major Oak is a large English oak near the village of Edwinstowe in the midst of Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire, England. According to local folklore, it was Robin Hood's shelter where he and his merry men slept. It weighs an estimated 23 tons, has a girth of 33 feet, a canopy of 92 feet, and is about 800–1,000 years old. In 2014, it was voted 'England's Tree of the Year' by a public poll by the Woodland Trust, receiving 18% of the votes. Its name originates from Major Hayman Rooke's description of it in 1790.
In the United Kingdom, ancient woodland is that which has existed continuously since 1600 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Planting of woodland was uncommon before those dates, so a wood present in 1600 is likely to have developed naturally.
Silton is a small village and civil parish in north Dorset, England, situated in the Blackmore Vale four miles northwest of Gillingham. In the 2011 census, the civil parish had 57 households and a population of 123.
Carpinus betulus, the European or common hornbeam, is a species of tree in the birch family Betulaceae, native to Western Asia and central, eastern, and southern Europe, including southern England. It requires a warm climate for good growth, and occurs only at elevations up to 1,000 metres (3,281 ft). It grows in mixed stands with oak, and in some areas beech, and is also a common tree in scree forests. Hornbeam was also known as yoke elm.
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of 2,020 hectares, including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private 265 hectares Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for many centuries, the private hunting ground of Windsor Castle and dates primarily from the mid-13th century. Historically the park covered an area many times the current size known as Windsor Forest, Windsor Royal Park or its current name. The park is managed and funded by the Crown Estate, and is the only royal park not managed by The Royal Parks. Most parts of the park are open to the public, free of charge, from dawn to dusk, although there is a charge to enter Savill Garden.
Savernake Forest stands on a Cretaceous chalk plateau between Marlborough and Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, England. Its area is approximately 4,500 acres.
The Great North Wood was a natural oak woodland that started three miles (4.8 km) south-east of central London and scaled the Norwood Ridge. At its full extent, the wood's boundaries stretched almost as far as Croydon and as far north as Camberwell. It had occasional landownings as large clearings, well-established by the Middle Ages such as the hamlets of Penge and Dulwich.
Sir Hugh Wyndham SL, of Silton, near Gillingham, Dorset, was an English Judge of the Common Pleas and a Baron of the Exchequer.
Bechstein's bat is a species of vesper bat found in Europe and western Asia, living in extensive areas of woodland.
Wistman's Wood is one of Britain's last remaining ancient temperate rainforests and one of three remote high-altitude oakwoods on Dartmoor in Devon, England. The first written document to mention Wistman's Wood date to the 1600s, while more recent tree-ring studies show that individual trees could be many hundreds of years old.
The Tree of the Year competition is held in the United Kingdom in autumn each year by the Woodland Trust, a nationwide conservation charity. Nominated trees are shortlisted by a panel of experts, before going to public votes to select a tree of the year for each of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom. The panel then selects one of these to become Britain's tree of the year and be nominated for the following year's European Tree of the Year. The competition has been run each year since 2014.
The Cowthorpe Oak was an oak tree in Cowthorpe, North Yorkshire, England. Renowned for its age and size it was sketched by the artist J. M. W. Turner. At its greatest extent its canopy was said to cover 0.5 acres (2,000 m2) of land. The tree declined in the late 18th century and lost several of its leading branches. By 1822 many of its branches were almost completely rotten and it had been supported with wooden props. The tree fell in 1950, apparently after having been struck by lightning.
The Parliament Oak is a veteran tree in Sherwood Forest. It is reputed to have been the site for impromptu-parliaments held by kings John and Edward I. In the 19th century the tree was propped-up by William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland. The tree was shortlisted for the 2017 Woodland Trust Tree of the Year award.
Hack Fall Wood, otherwise known as Hackfall, is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, or SSSI, of 44.8687 hectares, lying north-east of the village of Grewelthorpe, North Yorkshire, England. During the 18th century it was landscaped in the picturesque style by landowner William Aislabie, who created views by engineering streams and pools, planting trees and building follies. J. M. W. Turner and William Sawrey Gilpin painted it, and pictures of it featured on Catherine the Great's 1773 Wedgwood dinner service. Some 19th century writers called it "one of the most beautiful woods in the country."
Lassington Wood is a nature reserve near Highnam, Gloucestershire. Part of the estate of the Guise family since the 13th century it was donated to Gloucester County Borough Council in 1921. It is now owned by Tewkesbury Borough Council and managed jointly with Highnam Parish Council. The wood was the site of the Lassington Oak, a notable tree until it fell in 1960.
The Newland Oak was a veteran oak tree in Newland, Gloucestershire in England. Originally part of the ancient woodland of the Forest of Dean, it survived clearances that created the settlement of Newland and was afterwards pollarded for timber. Its large size was often remarked upon through the years and it was considered a rival to the Cowthorpe Oak as the largest oak tree in Great Britain. Much of the tree fell during heavy snow in 1955 but a single branch of the tree survived until 1970 when it was killed during an arson attack. A replacement tree grown from one of the Newland Oak's acorns had been planted in 1964.
Minchenden Oak Garden is a public park in Southgate, London owned by the London Borough of Enfield.
The Big Belly Oak is an ancient oak tree in the Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, England. The Big Belly Oak is the oldest oak in the Savernake Forest; it was planted around the year 1000, making it approximately 1,000 years old. It would have been a young tree at around the time that William the Conqueror defeated King Harold in 1066. As part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002, the Big Belly Oak was named as one of 50 Great British Trees, a collection of significant trees in the United Kingdom.
