An elderly statesman
A few of you who live in or around the town of Exmouth may be wondering why I have not issued a missive in this weekly column concerning the tragic death of a local elderly statesman of the natural world.
Perhaps I was being a little slow on the uptake, or perhaps I was merely working to the appropriate rhythms for the species in question? Because, as far as an oak tree is concerned, it happened merely a moment ago!
I am, of course, alluding to the toppling of one of the most significant trees in Exmouth’s arboreal collection and arguably one of the most interesting trees in the region: Phear Park’s massive Lucombe Oak, which was well over 200 years old.
The tree’s falling made the national press, and has attracted much attention since it finally fell a couple of weeks ago. The sight of this leviathan lying lifeless on the turf is an immediately emotive vision, and has triggered our collective instincts to clamber about amidst its branches, and get to know it more closely.
Before we look back on the history of this magnificent specimen, let’s first look at what eventually brought it down. Speaking to East Devon District Council’s Tree Officer, David Coleman, the diagnosis is that this is a classic case of a ganoderma infection, or white rot. The tree’s root system was infected to such an extent that the larger roots were completely rotten, and reduced to an oozing wet clump of woody sponge.
It would seem that the fungal infection had been eating its way through the tissues of the tree for some time. The point was simply reached when the huge thing, which had stood sightlessly witnessing the last two hundred years of change, wasn’t tied to the floor any more and it fell over. For those who could read the signs, this didn’t come as a surprise.
Works to reduce the crown of the tree were undertaken a few years ago, in an attempt to lighten the load and give it a fighting chance to rejuvenate. If a tree is infected all is not necessarily lost, as Oaks will respond to the infection by producing new rootlets, in an attempt to reattach itself to the earth. These root nodules were observed by David, but they had not reached a significant size to stitch it down and initiate something which is fantastically called “Phoenix Growth”.
The grass beneath the tree was also left to grow longer than the surrounding parkland, I bet you hadn’t even noticed – I hadn’t! This discourages people from walking beneath the tree in a sympathetic example of soft management; better than fences or barriers which only serve to encourage people into the fall zone.
So all was being done to make safe and save this tree, after its failed attempt to become one of the Great Trees of East Devon. When the Great Trees Project was launched it was this tree that was submitted for consideration. Probably on account of its position; it stood magnificently in pride of place in the park, but more on that circumstance later.
The health of the tree was looked into, and on account of the ganoderma and the fact there was a slightly larger Lucombe Oak growing only a few hundred metres away, the second tree was chosen as the park’s Great Tree – after all this is officially the third largest Lucombe Oak in the UK.
You may not have heard of this variety before, which is a shame as it is something of a local celebrity, here’s the “Big Red Book” moment for the Lucombe Oak – cue trumpets…
The Lucombe Oak was first cultivated by William Lucombe in 1762, from a cross between Turkey Oak and Cork Oak first hybridised in his nursery in Exeter. The variety was produced as an attempt to create a fast-growing tree with strong timber for construction. However, these trees did not make the grade as far as building materials, but they did become the red hot status symbol of estates and parkland throughout the country in the late 1700’s.
Phear Park was once the grounds of Marpool Hall and these exact specimen trees are drawn on the estate map of 1778, showing them to be feature pieces growing alongside the Hall’s driveway, making them at least 231 years old. In fact the Manor owners, the Hull’s, were so proud of their Lucombes they made the driveway loop right around the two trees, to give visitors the full benefit of their splendour!
In the intervening two hundred or so years, our ideas of what constitutes status may have changed somewhat, our modern status symbols are far more ephemeral, but our appreciation of massive ancient trees has not altered over millennia.
It is important to remember that the giants we are fortunate enough to admire today were nothing more than saplings when originally planted, so we are getting the full impact of planting to a 200 year vision - I find it hard to think of many projects undertaken today with a 20 year vision!
However to ensure that in 2209 there are people admiring giant old trees, at first hand rather than on holographic jet-pack projection (you’ve always got to have jet packs in futuristic predictions), we need to be taking as much care of the weedy little saplings as we are their ancient counterparts.
We also need to be taking into consideration other factors, namely climate change and sea level rise. Perhaps its time to start planting mangrove and teak in our coastal municipal parks, give the young’ns something to jet-pack amongst in a few hundred years time?