history

The Oak of Belton Lane – referred to in some places as the Grantham Oak – is perhaps the most surprising and impressive tree in town. The oak stands on the eastern side of Belton Lane, to the north of the town of Grantham, beside a pedestrian crossing and surrounded by a crescent of residential housing. This is not the typical location for a tree which is likely to be over 500 years old!

The Grantham Oak, dominating the scene with the pedestrian crossing across Belton Lane to one side, and residential housing to the other

The Grantham Oak – a pedunculate or English Oak (Quercus robur) – has a girth of 7.02m when measured at 1.5m above the ground. To give a rough visualisation of this – it would take over four adults reaching finger-tip to finger-tip to hug this tree. Using this measurement of girth, we can estimate the age of this tree – although this is not an exact science, and is subject to speculation over the early growing conditions of the tree and the stresses or privileges it might have endured or enjoyed over the years.Using the methodology produced by John White – the tree may be 530 – 560 years old, indicating a possible planting date around the 1450’s. To put this in context – this is around the time of the War of the Roses; the founding on the Inca dynasty; and when Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake.

Sunday morning walkers passing the Grantham Oak

The tree is a pollard – this means that in the distant past, it was cut above the height at which animals can graze. This was generally done to faciliate sustainable harvest of a tree either to provide fodder for animals or for wood timber. Retaining the base of the tree but continually taking new growth allows it to be harvested regularly without killing the tree. Indeed, one result of pollarding trees is that they often live for much longer than non-pollarded specimens.

A ‘wolf tree‘ is one which is older and larger than those around it – it often has a shape and structure which seems unaffected by external influences such as shading or competition, whilst it’s establishment means the younger trees grow and develop in response to it. I often see this in woodlands – especially where an old oak is situated towards the edge of a more recent forestry plantation – but the Grantham Oak is an example of a ‘wolf tree’ in a residential setting – the houses which line Belton Road were built to arch in a crescent surrounding this magnificent tree at its centre. This tree is still valued by many who live close or drive past it – it was nominated in the hunt for the UK’s 2014 Tree of the Year competition.

The Grantham Oak with the crescent of houses set back from the canopy

The map below illustrates the current location of the tree – set at the edge of residential development, a little way offset from the green corridor along the River Witham which passes through the town to the west.

2016 tree location.jpg — The OS map below shows the current location of the tree in a changed environment – extensive residential development now covers its previously countryside landscape.

The housing around this tree was only established in the 20th century and inspection of older maps before this date indicate that in 1905, the land around Belton Lane was agricultural countryside.

1905-tree — This map from 1905 positions the tree opposite entrance road to Harrowby Mill. Beyond the Oak would have been open fields to the east and west in sharp comparison to the residential housing which populates this site now.

The Harrowby Mill, still present but converted to residential use, lies opposite this tree on the west of Belton Lane and this can be seen as the only marked development in close proximity to the tree back in 1835. Although this was almost 200 years ago, even then the Grantham Oak would have been an impressive specimen of some 300 years old and would have stood dominantly across the road as workers left the mill.

1835-tree — An extract of a map from 1835 showing the approximate location of the tree with the red dot. The road on which the tree is situated – now Belton Lane – was already in existence along with the Harrowby Mill adjacent to it.

This is registered as Tree 2560 on the Woodland Trust Ancient Tree Register – a link to the tree’s individual page can be found here. The tree is included in the ‘40 Special Trees of Lincolnshire 40 Special Trees of Lincolnshire‘ book produced by the Lincolnshire Tree Awareness Group (TAG) under the title ‘The Grantham Oak’. The text describing this tree states that it was originally enclosed by Belton Hall Park although a contact at Belton said that the land at Belton Lane was never within parkland indicating it may never have been a ‘parkland’ tree.

The incongruous yet magnificent Grantham Oak

I have done my best to piece together a little history and information on this tree, but I would love for this to be just the beginning. If you have any information, photographs or stories relating to this tree, please get in touch with me or leave a comment below and I can update the post to grow the story around this magnificent resident of Grantham.

The Grantham Oak in November 2016 – just beginning to take on the tones of Autumn

For a similar post on one of Grantham’s impressive trees, take a look at this post on the copper beech on the high street!

This is hopefully the first of a short series of blog posts about some of Grantham’s trees, and which better to begin with than the copper beech in the town centre.

Copper beech outside the Grantham Guildhall on St Peter's Hill

The copper variant of the beech arose as mutants in the wild populations where they were first recorded in Germany around the 15th century. Copper beeches are now found growing extensively throughout Europe as ornamental trees in towns and gardens and the setting of this tree – in the town centre set before the impressive Guildhall – is a typical location.

It seems likely that the tree was planted not to compliment the Guildhall but as part of the parkland setting deemed appropriate for the new Isaac Newton statue erected in 1858 when the area known as the ‘wilderness’ was cleared of its trees and shrubs and replaced with well-spaced and altogether more civic trees.

The Isaac Newton statue on St Peter's Hill in its setting before the Guildhall was built — The Isaac Newton statue on St Peter’s Hill in its setting before the Guildhall was built

Copper beech outside the Grantham Guildhall on St Peter's Hill
Old photographs show many trees which are no longer extant, but the girth of this copper beech suggests that it may have been one of the originals. This photograph was taken in the summer of 1900, some 42 years after the Isaac Newton statue was erected, and a younger version of the beech can be seen substantially shorter than it is today. I think that the copper beech standing today is the smaller one with leaves, rather than the taller leafless tree behind – a tree with no leaves at this time of year is unlikely to have lasted another 114 years!

St Peter's Hll in 1900 - taken from A Pictoral History of Grantham — St Peter’s Hll in 1900 – taken from A Pictorial History of Grantham (no infringement of copyright intended)

In this next photograph, taken in the 1950’s, the tree is clearly developing into a more impressive specimen opposite the then Picture House cinema on the High Street.

St Peter's Hill in the 1950's with the Granada and Picture House cinemas on the left and the copper beech to the right. Source: Grantham Cinemas - When the Curtain Falls — St Peter’s Hill in the 1950’s with the Granada and Picture House cinemas on the left and the copper beech to the right. Source: Grantham Cinemas – When the Curtain Falls (no infringement of copyright intended)

This tree has clearly seen a lot in its time. The green upon which it is set has seen other parkland trees come and go, seen the houses to the north knocked down and the Guildhall erected in their place, seen a huge water tank placed upon the grass below during World War 2 and a bomb crater open up just tens of metres away, seen cars replace horses along the Great North Road which used to pass before it until the A1 bypass was built in 1962, and seen almost every one of Grantham’s citizens pass by for the last 150 years.

Water tank placed on the grass beneath the trees on St Peter's Hill during the war. Taken from Grantham at War (no infringement of copyright intended) — Water tank placed on the grass beneath the trees on St Peter’s Hill during the war. Taken from Grantham at War (no infringement of copyright intended)

The Belvoir Hunt on their annual boxing day meet-up at the top of St Peter's Hill with the Copper Beech in the background — The Belvoir Hunt on their annual boxing day meet-up at the top of St Peter’s Hill with the Copper Beech in the background

The tree is now set within its own enclosure, with a bark chip base to protect it from compaction and excessive wear around its root zone. It is surprisingly little vandalised for a beech tree in such a prominent position, with most of the marks simply the well-healed scars of previous branches lost. On a rainy day, the trunk develops stripes of dark and light where the water chooses to run. Mosses grow upon it and lichens etch circles upon its bark.

Beech trees can live for 300 years and this tree, which appears to be healthy and well protected is only middle-aged. There is every chance that it could see another 150 years of Grantham life pass before it yet.

Note: Many thanks to the Grantham Library which has many books on aspects of local history as well as old photographs which allowed this short history of the tree to be compiled – an invaluable resource for Grantham!

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The Grantham Oak

Grantham’s Copper Beech