Veteran Trees and Saproxylic Invertebrates at Hylands Park
13ft - 17ft (3.96m - 5.18m) girth category (see sample list). Other species that make a contribution
to the population of significant standard trees, include Horse Chestnut. Lime (Tilia x vulgaris),
Ash. Plane (few), Sycamore, Beech (rather few), with Pine (Pinus sylvestris) and Yew in the formal
gardens.
The vast majority of the largest oaks probably date from the period 1600 to 1800. The oldest tree
ring count I made was 326 years in a standard oak felled by the 1987 storm. This tree had a girth of
13ft 8ins (4.15m) and would have started life in about 1660. Of a number of felled oaks to have had
their rings counted, I found a great variability bearing little relation to the actual girth of the tree. A
tree with a girth of 15ft (4.57m) had 256 annual rings. Another with a girth of 12ft 5ins (3.77m) had
284 annual rings and yet another of girth 7ft lOins (2.38m) had 148 annual rings.
Many of the old standard oaks, like the pollards, are on old hedgerow boundaries, the best example
being the 10 or so trees in alignment between the Margaretting Gate and Oak Plantation. The grove
of 27 very large standard oaks (largest tree 16ft 11.5ins = 5.17m) opposite the entrance to the
Stable Block is something of a puzzle, but I suspect they originated as the standard trees in a
coppice wood which subsequently had its coppice stools removed and boundary bank flattened as
part of a landscaping scheme. Chapman and Andre (1777) show coppiced woodland in approximately
the right position.
SOME NOTABLE STANDARD TREES
Oak (Quercus robur) (girthed at 1.3m)
Formal Gardens
Formal Gardens
Lake Field
By Writtle Gate
Writtle Hills
Lake Field
Formal Gardens
Nr Main Gate
Nr Stable Block
TL 68324 04290 13ft 3ins 4.03m
TL 68412 04416 13ft 9ins 4.18m
TL 68817 04609 14ft 9.5ins 4.49m
TL 68087 05255 15ft 3ins 4.64m
TL 68120 04522 15ft 8ins 4.76m
TL 68649 04475 16ft 5ins 5.01m
TL 68341 04436 16ft 8ins 5.08m
TL 68759 04219 16ft 10.5ins 5.15m
TL 68382 04166 16ft 11.5ins 5.17m
There is a good age range of standard oaks in the park. However, this tends to be very uneven in
distribution around the park - the largest trees arc to be found due cast of the house, south of the
Stable Block and in the Writtle Hills area. The formal gardens has some 20 trees with girths over
8ft (2.44m) and afevv notably larger in the 13ft - 16ft (3.96m - 4.88m) bracket. Lightfoot Spring
has probably a similar number of suspiciously uniform looking standard oaks of girth 6ft - 9ft
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Essex Parks: Section 2 - Hylands Park