Shalstone - Shalstone Manor (Buckinghamshire)

1. One of the broadest trunks found so far in the U.K. Picture taken circa 1890 2a. Children/grandchildren offshoots of main stem on right 2b. From a distance Viewed from the Redwoods at the end of Main Street Two either side of Main Street Opposite the church

Two really interesting examples of Giant Redwood (amongst the others) make this one of the most fascinating sites discovered so far. The trees were all planted in the 1850's shortly after Giant Redwoods were first brought over from America. Picture 1 shows tree no. 1, a particularly fine example of the wide spread of the trunk at the base, so characteristic of the Giant Redwood. Although not the tallest, this is definitely one of the broadest I have measured so far in the U.K. being 9.1 metres girth at 1.5 metres from the ground. It also has a large branch growing fairly low down, another rather unusual feature on a Giant Redwood of this age. This example is surpassed, however, by the group of trees shown in pictures 2a and 2b. The original planting was of a single Giant Redwood (tree no.2) but from around the base of the first tree a ring of "children" sprouted some time later. Following on from that, some of these have since sprouted further "children" of their own. This remarkable behaviour seems quite rare and we have only ever encountered this before in Cambridge University Botanical Gardens, although that was on a much smaller scale. This arrangement does not seem to have had any adverse effect on the growth of the original stem, as can be seen from the measurements table below. If anyone is aware of the reason for this behaviour we would be very pleased to hear from them. The picture taken around 1890 has been reproduced by kind permission of the owners. There are several other trees in the grounds including a very fine Coast Redwood, once again with one of the broadest trunks of its type we have found so far. Across the road, opposite the church stands another Giant Redwood (tree no. 6), and there are two more on either side of Main Street where it meets the A422 (trees no. 7 & 8)

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	N52.02152 W1.06441	N52.02108 W1.06289	SP 64296 36313	388ft (118.3m)	38.6m	9.1m	April 2006
	2	N52.02209 W1.06428	N52.02165 W1.06276	SP 64304 36376	399ft (121.6m)	41m	5.23m	April 2006
	3	N52.02202 W1.06415	N52.02158 W1.06263	SP 64313 36369	385ft (117.4m)
	4	N52.02151 W1.06461	N52.02107 W1.06309	SP 64282 36312	391ft (119.2m)
Coast Redwood Sequoia sempervirens	5	N52.02191 W1.06295	N52.02147 W1.06143	SP 64396 36358	405ft (123.5m)	30.5m	5.52m	April 2006
Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia Sequoiadendron giganteum	6	N52.02215 W1.06681	N52.02171 W1.06529	SP 64130 36381		30.1m	5.85m	April 2006
	7	N52.01887 W1.06722	N52.01843 W1.06570	SP 64107 36016	373ft (113.7m)	29.3m	3.9m	April 2006
	8	N52.01889 W1.06751	N52.01845 W1.06599	SP 64087 36018	373ft (113.7m)	29.2m	4.52m	April 2006
Girth was measured at 1.5m from ground.