The Woodstock Giant Sequoia

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.