Newport - Tredegar House (Monmouthshire)

Thanks to Mark for sending photographs of Giant Redwoods in Newport. Mark says that "I found your web site via Google after seeing the excellent article in this month's National Geographic (October 2009). I had a suspicion there were a number of Redwoods in a local country park, Tredegar House near Newport, Gwent. This morning I visited to confirm that they were Redwoods using your photos as ID. They do indeed appear to be Sequoiadendron giganteum - and lots of them. I would estimate, on the whole estate, that there could be anything up to 150 or more of them. The tallest is probably around 100ft, but that's just a guess. A few have broad trunks of around 2m+ diameter at breast height. There was one twin trunked specimen that looked definitely like two individuals that had fused together. The Park is located near J28 of the M4 and was the former house of the biggest landowners in Gwent in Victorian Times - The Morgans.". Tredegar House looks like a bit of Redwood heaven! I hope to visit when I am in the area in the future. I also saw the National Geographic article and have viewed the videos on their web site. It was a marvellous feature on Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens), and included a particularly fine five-page foldout poster showing a full-length portrait of a 300-foot tree.

Thanks to Joan who "visited Tredegar House, N.T. last week when we were in Wales. I don't know if you have been there Ron, but they have about one hundred and fifty Redwoods. They are amazing! There was one whose branch had grown around a metal fence spike. The branch had been cut and then it had fractured, so we got to see the inside structure. Sid was delighted." It certainly is a bizaare and unusual site, thank you for sharing it with us Joan and Sid. Sid has an entry for his own saplings on the Tall Tales page, he is one of our youngest contributors.