Sidney Oak, Penshurst

In 2002 the Nation declared its gratitude to about fifty trees in the country that were important for one reason or another. They were proclaimed Heritage Trees. Among them is the Sidney Oak at Penshurst Place in Penshurst village. It has also been known as the Bear Oak. It can't have been called the Sidney Oak before 1552 because that was the year Edward VI granted Sir William Sidney Penshurst. It is almost certain that the tree is considerably older than 460 years. Some have even hazarded a guess at a millennium, which takes us back to William the Conqueror's time. Perhaps. Shortly after Penshurst Church had been built for the first time.

Unfortunately, there's now no way of dating it because all the tree consists of is an outer ring of (mainly dead) wood and a single branch. To use dendrochronology or radiocarbon dating requires solid wood from the bark to the heart of the tree. As you can see from the photos above, there isn't much hope of that. And that lone branch looks as though it's on its way to meet its maker, too. It's pulling the remaining live trunk apart, despite the half-hearted props.

Over the last fourteen years I've watched this tree slowly deteriorate. I don't imagine it'll be all that long before we're left with just a rotting stump and a sign saying this is a (ex) Heritage Tree.