Is the Shugborough yew really the widest in Europe?

The National Trust describes it as Europe's widest yew, and it carries that reputation. No published contest settles it, but its crown was recorded at about 171 metres round in 1992.

Why are the Brocton Coppice oaks called Groot and Treebeard?

Walkers say their gnarled trunks look like the walking trees of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Lord of the Rings. The Groot Tree is listed under that name on photo and walking sites, and Staffordshire Live wrote up the Treebeard oak in 2022.

How do I find the Treebeard oak?

From the Punchbowl car park near Milford, walk down to the Sher Brook stepping stones, turn right up the next main path, then right up a narrow path, bearing right at the split and climbing a steep slope. The oak is on the right, about five minutes from the stones.

Do I have to pay to see these trees?

The Shugborough yew is inside the National Trust estate, which charges for the park and gardens. Brocton Coppice is open woodland and free.

United Kingdom

Ancient Trees in Cannock Chase

At Shugborough, on the edge of Cannock Chase, a yew that the National Trust calls Europe's widest has spread sideways by rooting its own branches, until its main stem is almost impossible to reach. In Brocton Coppice, the part of Staffordshire with the highest concentration of ancient and veteran trees, walkers have named two gnarled oaks after film trees, Groot and Treebeard. None of the three has a reliable age, and only Shugborough charges for entry.

All 3 trees

The Great Yew of Shugborough

European Yew

The National Trust says Shugborough's garden holds Europe's widest yew, and the way it got wide is the story. This yew grows sideways. A visitor's ticket from 1925 already gave the reason. Its branches bend to the ground, root where they touch and send up fast young shoots, so over the years it has spread into a tangle so dense that, the Ancient Yew Group notes, its main stem is almost impossible to reach. The measurements show the spread. In 1898 a survey gave the crown a circumference of 261 feet. By 1992 it was given as 560 feet, about 171 metres round. The trunk itself is modest by comparison, 373 centimetres round. An 1898 writer guessed the tree was then 250 to 300 years old, and a later source has suggested planting around 1700. We have not seen the evidence for either, so we leave the age open. Widest in Europe is the Trust's claim and the tree's reputation, not the result of a measured contest. It is a female tree, and it stands by the Temple just north of the house, on the north side of the lawn known as The Flat. Shugborough is National Trust land on the edge of Cannock Chase, with paid entry to the park and gardens through the Milford Gates. The Trust still shows it to visitors as one of the garden's sights.

Groot Tree, Brocton Coppice

Oak

Walkers on Cannock Chase named this oak after Groot, the walking tree from Guardians of the Galaxy, and the old, gnarled trunk explains it. It is the sort of tree you half expect to turn round. It grows in Brocton Coppice, which holds the highest concentration of ancient and veteran trees in Staffordshire. The Coppice is old oak woodland with birch around it, on ground that is protected for its wildlife twice over, as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Area of Conservation. How old this one is, nobody knows. The photographer who posted it under that name in 2021 guessed 500 years or more, and that is a caption, not a survey. We have not settled the species either. One map record calls it a pedunculate oak, while the Coppice's own oaks are described as sessile, so if you know your acorns, tell us which. The tree has been photographed in 2021, described on a walking app in 2023 and mapped in 2025, so it is very much standing. Its exact position is less certain. The records we have disagree by some tens of metres, so walk in from the Coppice Hill car park and look for the oak that looks back. Stay on the paths. Brocton Coppice is free and open.

The Treebeard Oak, Sher Brook Valley

Oak

Brocton Coppice has two oaks named after trees that walk in films. One is the Groot Tree. This is the other, said to look like Treebeard from The Lord of the Rings, and it hides further from the main tracks. When Staffordshire Live wrote it up in February 2022, the chairman of a local ramblers' group called it off the beaten track. The paper's directions are the best map there is. From the Punchbowl car park just outside Milford, walk down to the stepping stones over the Sher Brook and turn right up the next main path. After about 100 yards, turn right onto a narrow path, bear right where it splits, and climb a steep slope veering slightly left. The oak is on your right, about five minutes from the stones. Our pin sits on the stepping stones, not the tree, because nobody has published a position for the trunk itself. The article's pictures show its hollow belly. Nobody has dated it. The same article says trees in Brocton Coppice go back two or three centuries, some to the time of Henry VIII, but that is a statement about the wood, not this trunk. Even the species is unconfirmed beyond oak, so if you can tell sessile from pedunculate, tell us which. The last dated account we have is that 2022 article. Brocton Coppice is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, free and open, so keep to the paths on the way in.

Know one in Cannock Chase we missed, or spot a mistake here? Tell us.

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Frequently asked

Is the Shugborough yew really the widest in Europe?: The National Trust describes it as Europe's widest yew, and it carries that reputation. No published contest settles it, but its crown was recorded at about 171 metres round in 1992.
Why are the Brocton Coppice oaks called Groot and Treebeard?: Walkers say their gnarled trunks look like the walking trees of Guardians of the Galaxy and The Lord of the Rings. The Groot Tree is listed under that name on photo and walking sites, and Staffordshire Live wrote up the Treebeard oak in 2022.
How do I find the Treebeard oak?: From the Punchbowl car park near Milford, walk down to the Sher Brook stepping stones, turn right up the next main path, then right up a narrow path, bearing right at the split and climbing a steep slope. The oak is on the right, about five minutes from the stones.
Do I have to pay to see these trees?: The Shugborough yew is inside the National Trust estate, which charges for the park and gardens. Brocton Coppice is open woodland and free.
More like this: One of these trees also appears in The Oldest Tree in Every City We Map.
Ancient trees in nearby cities: Wolverhampton · Astbury · Goostrey · Nether Alderley · Overton-on-Dee · Farndon · Stratford-upon-Avon · Sheffield · Every city on the map

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