Stoke St Michael

September 2016 – Tim Hills: This fragment is all that is left of the original tree. An old gentleman told me the missing portion came down in a storm a couple of years ago, but added that a couple of years might be a lot more because his memory played tricks. He also told me they had considered taking down the whole tree but that somebody was able to convince them that it remained structurally sound. It grows straight and tall and seemed completely sound to me. A considerable amount of internal structures are revealed. Girth of the fragment was exactly 10′ at 3′. The dead side of the tree was inaccessible because of planted cotoneaster. This is probably an good idea, keeping people away from open side of the tree as it recovers.
With a girth of under 4m the tree is presently classified as notable. Because it displays veteran characteristics it will in the future be classified as V-con (veteran on account of its condition).