The Plane of the Old City Cemetery
roughly 175 to 185 years, from the register's planting band of 1840 to 1850London Planepin approximate
Which one is it? Flaking cream and olive bark, on the path between sections 2 and 3. In late winter, the tree with heron nests in the top.
Grey herons nest in the tops of these trees. That is the first thing to know about the old city cemetery, and in February and March it is loud. Herons are colonial breeders, they choose tall trees near water, they start early in the year, and a heronry is not a quiet place: a large ragged nest per fork, birds arriving with sticks, and a noise like an argument in a shed. From below you mostly see the undersides and hear the rest. The ground was laid out in 1833 to a design by Lucas Pieters Roodbaard, the same architect as the Prinsentuin, which is why a cemetery here reads like a landscape garden with graves in it. It went out of use long ago and is now a national monument. Ivy has taken many of the trunks. The plane is on the path between sections two and three, banded 1840 to 1850, so from the earliest planting. London plane is the classic city tree because it sheds its bark in plates and with it the soot, which is why the trunk is a camouflage of cream, olive and grey. Go in early spring, before the leaves, when you can see the birds.
The button above opens directions in your maps app. About 1.5 km north of Leeuwarden station, on the Jelsummerstraat.
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
- London Plane (Platanus x acerifolia)
- Age estimate
- roughly 175 to 185 years, from the register's planting band of 1840 to 1850
- Location
- Oude Stadsbegraafplaats, Jelsummerstraat, on the path between sections 2 and 3 (Vlietzone)
- Access
- Free. Open ground, no longer in use as a cemetery.
- Getting there
- About 1.5 km north of Leeuwarden station, on the Jelsummerstraat.
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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