The Newland Oak was a veteran oak tree in

Newland, Gloucestershire Newland is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. situated on the east side of the River Wye, south-east of Monmouth. It is notable for its parish church of All Saints, known as the 'Cathedral of the Fore ...

in England. Originally part of the ancient woodland of the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to the n ...

, 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 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 of land. The tree declined in the late ...

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 Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...

attack. A replacement tree grown from one of the Newland Oak's acorns had been planted in 1964.

History

The oak dated back to AD and is thought to have formed part of the vast

, an ancient woodland covering much of Western Gloucestershire. The tree was an English oak, ''Quercus robur''. Much of the forest was cleared in later years, from which the nearby settlement of Newland derives its name (as "new land" reclaimed from the forest), and in later years the tree stood alone in a field of Spouts Farm about north-west of Newland Church. The tree had been pollarded for timber and for centuries was known as the "Great Oak".***Please note that a wikilink to EB1911 article akat Volume 19, page 932 is not available*** As one of the largest oaks in the country the tree was the subject of some fame. The antiquary

John Timbs John Timbs (; 17 August 1801 – 6 March 1875) was an English author and antiquary. Some of his work was published under the pseudonym of Horace Welby. Biography Timbs was born in 1801 in Clerkenwell, London. He was educated at a private school ...

described it as "one of the most remarkable trees in the country" in 1839 and an engraving of the tree was included in P. J. Ducarel's ''De Wyrhale'' book of poetry in 1836. By 1874 the tree was said to be "battered and decaying", though naturalist

Edwin Lees Edwin Lees (1800–1887) was a British botanist and antiquarian. Life He was born at Worcester in 1800, was educated at Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England ...

thought it might live another 500 years. The tree was badly damaged by heavy snowfall in May 1955 which caused much of the structure to collapse and it was described as "long much-decayed" in 1964. One live branch survived but this was killed by an arson attack in 1970. A replacement tree, grown from one of the Newland Oak's acorns, was planted by Cyril Hart,

verderer Verderers are forestry officials in England who deal with common land in certain former royal hunting areas which are the property of the Crown. The office was developed in the Middle Ages to administer forest law on behalf of the King. Verderers ...

of the Forest of Dean, on 21 December 1964. The replacement tree survives and a partly rotten segment of the original trunk was still visible in 2011. Hart described the tree in 1966 as having taken "200 years to grow, 200 years to exist, and 200 to die".

Size

The size of the tree, typically measured by its

girth Girth may refer to: ;Mathematics * Girth (functional analysis), the length of the shortest centrally symmetric simple closed curve on the unit sphere of a Banach space * Girth (geometry), the perimeter of a parallel projection of a shape * Girth ...

around the trunk, has been often measured and commented upon. It was measured at in girth in 1839 and in 1875, with a girth of up to was considered a challenger to the

as the oldest in Britain. A 1906 measurement recorded of girth and the 1911 ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

'' recorded when measured at a height of from the ground. In 1931 it was recorded as at a height of above the ground and in 1950 was said to be in girth. The Cowthorpe Oak fell in 1950 and by 1954 the Newland Oak was being described as having "the greatest girth of any tree in Britain". A Her Majesty's Stationery Office publication of 1964 recorded that the Newland Oak had the greatest girth of any tree recorded in Britain in modern times, but Julian Hight, writing in 2011, states that it was only the second-largest girth of an English oak (after the Cowthorpe Oak).

References

{{Reflist Individual oak trees Individual trees in England Forest of Dean 1970s individual tree deaths