The Domesday Oak

Ashton Court appears in the Domesday Book, the survey William the Conqueror ordered of his new kingdom in 1086, and one oak in the estate's parkland is thought to have already been growing around that time, which is where its name comes from. At an estimated 700 years old, it may be the oldest living tree in greater Bristol. Its condition tells the story as plainly as its age: the trunk has split and partially collapsed, one section settling almost horizontally toward the ground while the rest hangs on, now held upright by timber struts and steel wire rather than its own strength. Visitors who knew the tree decades ago recall climbing inside a fuller, healthier trunk; today's crown is thinner and the bark flaking with decay. In 2002, the Tree Council named it one of 50 Great British Trees to mark the Queen's golden jubilee, official recognition for a specimen that has no sign or marker pointing casual visitors to it today, easy to walk past in a park that holds more than a hundred other ancient pollard oaks, the largest such cluster in Britain outside Windsor Great Park.