Rochford - Back Lane Car Park (Essex)

Take a close look in the Back Lane car park in Rochford, and huddled against the Dolphin House building you will see this unexpected delight. Not the prettiest example, this one has suffered the ravages of time. At about second story height the main trunk splits into two. Whether this is the result of a lightning strike many years ago, or the failed attempt by someone to halt the tree's growth I have no idea. The latter may well be the truth, since this tree is only a distance of a metre or two from the building! It has suffered a little, though, over recent years. It looks as though someone has hacked away at the lower branches, seemingly in an attempt to give it the shape of an apple tree! Still, on a more positive note they have removed most of the awful tree-creeping plant that was spoiling the lovely trunk. Nevertheless, it is still a Giant Redwood, and will therefore persevere, and probably outlive us all.

Common Names and Latin Name	Latitude and Longitude		OS National Grid	Girth	Date Measured
	WGS84	OSGB36
Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia Sequoiadendron giganteum	N51.58156 E0.70646	N51.582234 E0.707934	TQ 87593 90569	3.33m	July 2005
Girth was measured at 1.5m from ground.