Stanwick - St Laurence Church (Northamptonshire)

Giant Redwood - May 2020

Thanks to Keith who sent these photographs in Lockdown (Covid-19 pandemic) May 2020 and said "I was taking my allowed exercise today, and photographed these two trees in a local churchyard. I’ve known about them many years, but never walked close, to study. I’ve been to the ones in Yosemite, and seen others in National Trust properties here, but never really known if the UK ones are Giant Redwoods, or Giant Sequoia. Hence I ‘Googled’ the subject, and found your website - which I think says both descriptions are correct. And I’ll remember the third description, ‘Wellingtonia’, as the pub bordering the church, is the ‘Duke of Wellington’! Other than I can see they’ve had what looks like some fairly recent professional branch surgery, I can tell you no more about them. " Yes, the common-names can be confusing, it's partly due to name changes through time but in this case more to do with different names used in Britain and America. Hence the use of the latin name Sequoiadendron giganteum which gives an unambiguous international reference name for them for the layman when this is required, as well as providing biologists with information regarding their botanical classifications.