Survivors

This oak has a special claim to fame as the first tree in Northern Ireland to be protected by a Tree Preservation Order. It stands right behind the Killyhevlin Hotel, on the main road just east of Enniskillen. When the hotel was extended, a tree expert insisted that care was taken not to damage the […]

On the lawn outside Enagh House is a most magnificent oak tree, perfect in form, with smooth trunk and a mass of branches spreading out symmetrically. The trunk is relatively modest in girth compared with the immense area of the canopy which creates its own tree kingdom. It is the focus for incredibly rich wildlife, […]

Long before Gosford was an official forest, it had trees. Great oaks were known to be here centuries ago and some have survived, amazingly, surrounded by spruce in forest plantations. Just by the main car park is a path leading towards the arboretum. Right beside that path, standing proud in an area newly cleared of […]

This oak stands in an orchard outside the wall of Ardress House, National Trust property in Co. Armagh, with ancient apples and fine broad-leaved trees all growing strongly in the rich soil of the area. There are other oaks nearby, but none have the stature of this specimen, standing alone at the field edge. It […]

Shane’s Castle, Co. Antrim has great oak trees – among the oldest and biggest in Northern Ireland. The greatest of the oaks stands beside the ruins of the previous castle, a fine house on the shore of Lough Neagh, accidentally burnt when it was still a relatively new building. It is a perfect oak in […]

The Lagan Valley between Belfast and Lisburn is still a tree-rich area. Best known was the great oak at Belvoir Park Forest, recorded by the famous photographer Robert Welch and considered to be well over 300 years old over a century ago. This tree was taken as the crest of the family resident at Belvoir […]

One Evergreen oak or Holm oak Quercus ilex has been treated very specially. The Sir Samuel Kelly home in Holywood, built and run by the Salvation Army, was built to accommodate elderly people and also to accommodate an elderly tree. In front of the entrance of the smart new building is an old evergreen oak, […]

To pick one tree in a forest is a difficult task, but this is a solitary survivor in a sad setting. Castle Caldwell Forest extends along the peninsula which juts out into the western end of Lower Lough Erne; part is an RSPB reserve. Beside the utterly derelict castle is a tree which is contemporary […]

Entering Castlewellan Forest Park, on one side is the vast field where the annual Castlewellan agricultural show and other events take place. Standing by itself, easily seen from the entrance drive, is an ancient native ash, Fraxinus excelsior. Its trunk is the largest of any tree in the field, though lime, beech, and sweet chestnut […]

Among the many fine oaks in the Crom estate, Co Fermanagh, is one that has a remarkable story, for which it has suffered over the years. Back in the seventeenth century, the Crichton family lived in the old castle, now picturesque ruins by the lough shore. (Subsequently they moved across to Inisherk, where some of […]