Brimmon Oak facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Brimmon Oak |
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| Species | English oak (Quercus robur) |
| Location | Newtown, Powys, Wales |
| Coordinates | 52°30′45″N 3°17′34″W / 52.5125000°N 3.2928889°W |
| Date seeded | circa 1500 |
The Brimmon Oak is a very old and special tree in Newtown, Powys, Wales. It's an English oak, and people think it's about 500 years old! This amazing tree has been on the same family's farm since the 1600s. In 2015, it was almost cut down for a new road, but people fought to save it. Because of this, the Brimmon Oak was named the best tree in Wales and the whole United Kingdom in 2016. It even came in second place in a big European Tree of the Year competition in 2017!
The Brimmon Oak's Story
The Brimmon Oak is an English oak, also known as a pedunculate oak. Experts believe it is more than 500 years old. Imagine, it was a young tree when Christopher Columbus sailed to America! In the past, parts of the tree were cut in a special way called pollarding. This method helps trees grow new branches for timber, which is wood used for building. The trunk of the Brimmon Oak is huge, measuring over 6 meters (about 20 feet) around!
The land where the tree stands has been farmed by the same family for many generations. The current farmer says his family has worked in that field since the 1600s. That's a very long time! A photo from 1901 even shows a wedding party resting under the tree's wide branches. Many people see the Brimmon Oak as one of the most important natural landmarks in Montgomeryshire, the historic area where it lives.
Saving the Brimmon Oak
In 2015, the Brimmon Oak was planned to be cut down. This was part of building a new road called the A483 Newtown Bypass. The farmer who owned the land started a petition to save the tree. A petition is a formal request signed by many people. He gathered 5,000 signatures and sent them to the Welsh Parliament.
His effort worked! The path of the new road was changed to protect the tree. A special area of 15 meters (about 49 feet) around the tree was also protected. The people who campaigned for the tree wanted to make sure the road builders would not damage the tree's roots. In May 2018, another petition was started. It asked for the new road to be named the "Newtown Brimmon Oak Bypass" to honor the tree.
Awards for the Brimmon Oak
In 2016, the Brimmon Oak won the Welsh Tree of the Year award. Later that year, judges chose it as the best tree in the entire United Kingdom. It beat the winning trees from England, Scotland, and Northern Ireland! The prize was £1,000 to help care for the tree. It also meant the Brimmon Oak could enter the European Tree of the Year awards.
In March 2017, it was announced that the Brimmon Oak came in second place in the European awards. This was decided by people voting online. The tree received 16,200 votes! It was second only to the Józef Oak in Poland. This was the best result ever for a British tree in the history of the European Tree of the Year awards.
