Woodstock, just outside Inistioge, holds a gnarled giant sequoia that the Irish Times called the widest tree in Ireland in 1999, 7.65 metres round at its base and 41.5 metres tall. Woodstock's own page now gives Ireland's largest giant redwood as bigger, so the crown has moved on. In the same arboretum stands what the estate calls its Champion Coast redwood, one of a pair. Both are put at roughly 150 to 215 years. Entry is five euro per car.
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Giant SequoiaNo photograph yet Giant Sequoia · 150-215 years
In 1999 the Irish Times called this gnarled sequoia the widest tree in Ireland, 7.65 metres round at its base. Woodstock's own website now quietly contradicts that, giving Ireland's largest recorded giant redwood as 8.6 metres round and 51 metres tall. So the crown has moved on. The tree has not.
The newspaper found it while the Victorian gardens at Woodstock were being restored. Two stately Wellingtonias stood almost 40 metres tall at the edge of the woods, and nearby was this one, older looking and twisted, the tallest tree in the park at 41.5 metres. Those figures are from 1999, and the girth was taken at the base rather than at chest height, which flatters any sequoia.
The age is an estimate, worked out rather than recorded. The national heritage tree register put Woodstock's giant sequoia at 150 to 200 years in 2009, and it is the only one of its kind in Woodstock's entries, so it is very probably this tree. The species only reached Ireland in the 1850s, which caps how old it can be. That gives roughly 150 to 215 years today.
No newer measurement has been published since 1999. If you know a newer figure, tell us.
Woodstock is run by Kilkenny County Council. Entry is five euro per car, and the gardens close when a weather warning is in force, which for a 40-metre tree is a reasonable policy.
Coast RedwoodNo photograph yet Coast Redwood · 150-215 years
Woodstock calls this its Champion Coast redwood and then, unusually for a champion, publishes no number at all. No height, no girth. The estate's 2015 page names it alongside the tallest silver fir in Ireland and a Bentham cypress, and leaves the redwood's size to your own eyes.
Champion is the title tree recorders give to the biggest known tree of its kind in a given area. Woodstock does not say which area or by which measure, so the title stands here as the estate's own.
There is a second puzzle. The national heritage tree register lists two coast redwoods in the arboretum, about 67 metres apart, both recorded as exceptional specimens and both put at 150 to 200 years old in 2009. Which of the pair is the champion is not stated anywhere. They are treated as one stop here, with the pin set between them, and the register's age carried forward to roughly 150 to 215 years today. Stand between them and you can judge the contest yourself.
The species is native to the California coast. These two share the arboretum with Woodstock's old giant sequoia.
Woodstock is run by Kilkenny County Council. Entry is five euro per car, and the gardens close whenever a yellow, orange or red weather warning is in force. If you know which redwood holds the title, or have a measurement for either, tell us.