Broomfield - St Mary's Church (Essex)
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Broomfield - St Mary's Church (Essex) |
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 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - December 2018 |
| There is one good sized Giant Redwood at St Marys church, Broomfield (just a mile or so north of Chelmsford). There were once two here, but one had to be cut down and a young Giant was planted in 2004 to replace it. There is a nice little collection of trees in the grounds, including a small Dawn Redwood. |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - May 2009 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - April 2014 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - August 2004 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 1 - September 2006 |
 Dawn Redwood Tree No. 3 - June 2008 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 5 - November 2016 |
 St. Mary's church round tower - November 2016 |
| Opposite the church entrance and Goulton Road is a short road which leads to a small cluster of houses, in front of which are two Giant Redwoods. Unfortunately one of these (No. 4) was removed in 2006. Apparently these once adorned the gateway to the large house which once stood on the grounds. Accidents aside, these resilient trees will always outlive the houses for which they are planted! |
 Four of the seven war graves - December 2018 |
| There are seven war graves in the churchyard, four of which can be seen above, a reminder of huge sacrifices made for our freedom. A list of names of the men can be found on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website. |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 1 - February 2022 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - February 2022 |
| * * * Update - February 2022 * * * |
| Paul sent girth measurements of Tree 1 and 2 made in February 2022. "Tree No. 1: 4 metres 14 centimetres at 1.5 metres above ground level. NE 21 feet from the church. Tree No. 2: 90cm at 1.5 mtr above ground level. Not 100% sure if this is a Redwood." Thank you Paul, I had to smile a little at your comment on the second tree as this one is a Giant Redwood I grew from seed and planted there in 2004. I had been to measure it myself just a month before you! I'm pleased to see it's still doing well. |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 1 - August 2022 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - August 2022 |
 Dawn Redwood Tree No. 3 - August 2022 |
| David wrote in August 2022 to let us know that he has responsibility for the trees at St. Mary's church, and he said; "All three Redwoods are showing signs of distress presumably as a result of the recent dry spell. Of particular concern to me is your Tree No.3, the Dawn Redwood. This tree suffered from die back last year and even more so this. At the recommendation of the City Council Tree Officer we have cleared the ground around it of grass and tried to water the tree. At the moment it seems this has failed to make any noticeable difference. I am very afraid that we may have lost it but shall have to see if it recovers next spring by which time we hope for some rain. I have to say that the Redwoods are not the only trees suffering in the Churchyard as a result of this dry spell." On visiting the trees it was fairly clear that they were suffering. The Giants are indeed showing a considerable proportion of dead foliage, but the majority is still looking very green and healthy. In past dry Summers I've noticed Giant Redwoods showing this effect, however, on a follow up visit a year or two later it was obvious that the trees had recovered fully and were once again displaying full lush green foliage. Having seen this a number of times over the years on various trees, I've come to the conclusion that this is coping strategy; I reckon they are sacrificing a proportion of the foliage in order to keep the remainder alive and functioning. Naturally this would only work so far, hopefully we'll get the usual Autumn rain and they will bounce back. |
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 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 showing the dead foliage close up - August 2022 |
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| The Dawn Redwood on first sight looks in an even worse state that the Giants, as David had noted. It has lost pretty much all of its foliage as can be seen from the photograph. This too may not be the disaster that it appears, because on close examination of the branchlets that have lost their foliage, tiny buds can be seen which will hopefully form next year's foliage. I have had this occur with potted Dawn Redwood trees where they have missed out on watering, the sapling shed all its leaves and appeared dead, only to burst into life the following Spring. Again I believe this is a strategy for coping with drought. Whereas the Giant Redwood cannot afford to lose all of its foliage because it takes longer to recreate it, the Dawn Redwood is a deciduous pine and recreates a complete set of fresh foliage each year. Therefore I imagine it is more pragmatic for it to discard all of its foliage early and wait for next Spring to start again. |
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 Dawn Redwood Tree No. 3 showing the new buds for next year - August 2022 |
 Giant Redwood Tree No. 2 - August 2023 |
 Dawn Redwood Tree No. 3 - August 2023 |
| What a difference a year makes! This year has not been nearly as dry as the previous year so the young Giant Redwood has hardly any browning (apart from the normal amount plus some very dark brown remaining on the tree from last Summer's shedding). It has plenty of new fresh foliage too. The Dawn Redwood, as predicted, had recovered with lots of new foliage around the trunk. There are quite a few dead branches but given time the tree should replace them with new ones. |
| Common Names and Latin Name | No. | Latitude and Longitude | OS National Grid | Elevation (above sea-level) |
Height | Girth | Date Measured | |
| WGS84 | OSGB36 | |||||||
| Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia Sequoiadendron giganteum |
1 | N51.76727 E0.47000 |
N51.76678 E0.47169 |
TL 70534 10507 | 134ft (40.9m) |
-- 23.7m 21m 18m |
4.14m 4.05m 3.78m 3.63m |
August 2022 December 2018 April 2014 January 2005 |
| 2 | N51.76705 N51.76655 |
E0.46944 E0.47110 |
TL 70495 10481 | 131ft (39.9m) |
9.07m 9m 7.75m 7.7m 7.28m 6.7m 6.3m 5.4m 5.3m 4.5m 4.15m 3.34m 3.1m 2.7m 2.6m 2.3m |
1.07m 1m 0.98m 0.9m 0.82m 0.74m 0.66m -- 0.48m -- 0.33m 0.25m 0.21m -- 0.13m -- |
August 2023 August 2022 January 2022 December 2020 December 2019 December 2018 August 2017 November 2016 December 2015 April 2014 June 2013 June 2012 June 2011 June 2010 December 2009 May 2009 |
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| Dawn Redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides |
3 | N51.76743 E0.46951 |
N51.76694 E0.47120 |
TL 70500 10524 | 133ft (40.6m) |
R.I.P. 10m 9.98m 9.6m 8.3m 7m 5.7m |
-- -- 0.7m -- 0.31m -- 0.28m |
March 2023 August 2022 December 2020 November 2016 April 2014 June 2011 May 2009 |
| Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia Sequoiadendron giganteum Note: these two trees are/were in Church Green - a small road opposite the church |
4 | N51.76581 E0.47018 |
N51.76532 E0.47187 |
TL 70552 10345 | 117ft (35.7m) |
R.I.P. | 2.95m | March 2006 |
| 5 | N51.76577 E0.47024 |
N51.76528 E0.47193 |
TL 70556 10341 | 119ft (36.3m) |
23.3m -- |
-- 3.6m |
November 2016 March 2006 |
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| Girth was measured at 1.5 metres from ground | ||||||||