The Stanmer House Cedar of Lebanon
planted in the 18th century, roughly 250 to 300 yearsCedar of Lebanonpin approximate
Which one is it? Three dark, flat-topped cedars standing together on the grass behind Stanmer House, their branches in horizontal layers.
Three cedars of Lebanon stand behind Stanmer House, and one of them is the tallest of its species in East Sussex on the council's own reckoning. They were planted in the eighteenth century, and the tradition here attaches them to Thomas Pelham, who built the house in the 1720s. Cedrus libani was a status planting in English parkland: brought from the mountains of the Levant and set out in front of new country houses precisely because it did not look English. Flat-topped, dark, built in horizontal plates rather than a rounded crown. Three centuries on that is still what marks this group out from the parkland trees around them. There used to be more. One of the original cedars came down in a storm at over 150 years old, and its timber was carved into badger sculptures that are still on the site, which is a better end than firewood. Which of the three carries the height record is not something the sources settle. They describe the cedars as a group, and no girth or height figure has ever been published for any of them, only the designation. So the honest version is this: the tallest cedar in the county is one of these three, and if you know which, tell us.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. Falmer railway station, 20-25 min walk through the park; bus routes to Stanmer village
The pin marks the right spot roughly, not the tree itself. It stands here, but we have not confirmed the precise position on the ground yet. Know exactly where it is?
- Species
- Cedar of Lebanon (Cedrus libani)
- Age estimate
- planted in the 18th century, roughly 250 to 300 years
- Location
- Grounds behind Stanmer House, Stanmer Park, Brighton (Stanmer Park)
- Access
- Free, public parkland grounds around Stanmer House, open during park hours
- Getting there
- Falmer railway station, 20-25 min walk through the park; bus routes to Stanmer village
Trees nearby
Ticking this one off, walks past several more, and your collection growing city by city: that is the Ancient Trees app.
Get the appThis page was researched from a distance. If you know this tree, you know things we do not: the species, the age, the size, whether the photo shows the right tree, or that it is gone. Every field on this page can be corrected.
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