Wyndham's Oak (sometimes Judge Wyndham's Oak and also known as the Silton Oak or stumpy Silton) is an historic pedunculate oak (''

Quercus robur ''Quercus robur'', the pedunculate oak, is a species of flowering plant in the beech and oak family, Fagaceae. It is a large tree, native plant, native to most of Europe and western Asia, and is widely cultivated in other temperate regions. It ...

'') tree in Silton,

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, England. It was one of a number of oaks that historically marked the boundary of between

Selwood Forest The ancient Selwood Forest ran approximately between Gillingham in Dorset and Chippenham in Wiltshire. It is described by the historian Barbara Yorke as a "formidable natural obstacle" in the Anglo-Saxon period, which was a significant bounda ...

and

Gillingham Forest Gillingham may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Gillingham, Dorset ( ) ** Gillingham railway station (Dorset) ** Gillingham School, a coeducational school situated in Gillingham in North Dorset, England ** Gillingham Town F.C., a football club ...

, a medieval hunting ground. The tree is up to 1,000 years old, and is the oldest tree in the county of

. As of April 2008, its trunk measured in circumference—the greatest of any tree in the country—and the bole was high. It is named after Sir

Hugh Wyndham Hugh Wyndham may refer to: * Sir Hugh Wyndham (judge) (1602–1684), English judge of the Common Pleas and Baron of the Exchequer * Hugh Wyndham (Minehead MP) (c. 1624–71), MP for Minehead 1661–71 * Sir Hugh Wyndham (diplomat) (1836–1916), ...

, a Judge of the Common Pleas who used to sit in its shade to relax while contemplating cases, and was reputedly used as a

gallows A gallows (or less precisely scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sa ...

from which to hang rebels convicted of participation in the

Monmouth rebellion The Monmouth Rebellion in June 1685 was an attempt to depose James II of England, James II, who in February had succeeded his brother Charles II of England, Charles II as king of Kingdom of England, England, Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland and ...

. It was the subject of an engraving during the reign of

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...

, and a drawing by the artist

Mark Frith Mark Frith (born 22 May 1970, in Sheffield) is a British journalist, music critic, and editor. He has been a writer and editor for magazines such as ''Smash Hits'', '' Time Out'' and ''Heat''. He has since branched into TV and radio presenting, ...

, which was commissioned by publisher

Felix Dennis Felix Dennis (27 May 194722 June 2014) was an English publisher, poet, spoken-word performer, and philanthropist. His company, Dennis Publishing, pioneered computer and hobbyist magazine publishing in the United Kingdom. In more recent times, t ...

and bequeathed by him to the charity he founded, the

Heart of England Forest The Heart of England Forest is an English charity for the conservation and restoration of native habitats primarily within the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. It aims to address the loss of ancient woodlands and other habitats i ...

. It was one of ten candidates in the

Woodland Trust The Woodland Trust is the largest woodland conservation charity in the United Kingdom and is concerned with the creation, protection, and restoration of native woodland heritage. It has planted over 68 million trees since 1972. The Woodland Tru ...

's poll to find the "England's Tree of the Year 2018". As of September 2019, the ground where the tree stands is part of a privately owned farm.

References

External links

{{Commons category
Wyndham's Oak: a great survivor
(2011 blog post with pictures)
Ancient Trees – The Silton or Wyndham's Oak
(2013 blog post with pictures) Individual trees in England History of Dorset Individual oak trees

References

Further reading

External links