Campaign launched to save nine veteran trees – including the Darwin Oak
A campaign to save nine veteran trees – including the 550 year old Darwin Oak – has launched in Shrewsbury.
Local residents visited each of the nine veteran trees – seven oaks, an ash, and one field maple – and decorated their branches with ribbons and ties to draw attention to their plight.
The Save The Shrewsbury 9 campaign is asking the public to help them choose names for eight of the trees before a ‘tree christening ceremony’ takes place in January.
The nine veterans are destined to be felled and removed if the North West Relief Road goes ahead, even though they have been described as ‘irreplaceable’ by the Woodland Trust. They are among the 1,100 trees and over 4km of hedgerows that will be destroyed if the NWRR is built.
Speaking for the campaign Tina Teearu, an ecologist who lives in Shrewsbury, says:
"People all over the world now know about the Darwin Oak after it featured in The Guardian and in the German press. We want to remind everyone about the other eight veteran trees that don’t have names yet. They are equally important and just as irreplaceable. Each of these trees has stood for hundreds of years and is a living ecosystem in its own right. These trees connect us to our past. They have witnessed some of the greatest moments in our collective history. That’s why we’re inviting local people to help us name them."
While the Darwin Oak is the oldest and most famous of the nine, the other trees are also irreplaceable. It is estimated that the combined capital asset value of the nine trees is around £1.5m.
The trees include ‘T65’ on Shelton Way, the oldest of the remaining Shelton Oaks, around 342 years old. The famed Shelton Oak was reportedly climbed by Owain Glyndŵr during the Battle of Shrewsbury in 1403. It is thought to have fallen in a storm in 1940.
At the other end of the road, trees ‘T2’ and ‘T3’ stand near Ellesmere Roundabout and are aged 361 and 281 years old respectively. They’re sometimes referred to as ‘The Restoration Oaks’, because they date back to when Charles II was returned to the throne after Cromwell.
Save The Shrewsbury 9 campaigners say it’s important to draw attention to these veteran trees, especially because there is a chance that Shropshire Council could fell them before work properly begins on the NWRR.
The council’s Tree Team has recently been flooded with requests from Shropshire residents asking for all the at risk trees to be given interim TPOs (Tree Preservation Orders), but they are refusing to do so.
Tina Teearu says:
"We think there is a very real risk that the council tries to secure the NWRR route for the future by putting in hammerheads for construction vehicles and clearing problematic vegetation, including these trees. They could do this at any moment, even though work on the road won’t properly start until the summer of 2025.
"We think the council’s Tree Team should ensure that the trees aren’t felled until it is 100% certain that the road is going ahead. At the moment, with 36 planning conditions still undecided, no proper costings, and a general election looming, there is no guarantee that the NWRR will ever be built.
"It would be an unforgivable act of vandalism if the Conservative administration felled these trees only for the NWRR to be cancelled by the next government. We need them to be protected and we’re calling on council leader Lezley Picton to personally intervene."
The Save The Shrewsbury 9 campaign is planning a series of events, including a ‘Save Our Walks’ on-lead dog walk to visit the trees on 27 December.
There will also be a community sign-making workshop on 6 January at the English Bridge Workshop for people to create signs and decorations ahead of the christening ceremony.
To suggest names for the trees, email the campaign at SaveTheShrewsbury9@gmail.com
