Richmond Green is plane, lime and horse chestnut country, which is what makes this tree so easy to spot. On the Maids of Honour Row side, near the gatehouse of the old palace, a single stone pine holds up a flat, dark umbrella of a crown, the shape you know from Roman skylines and Italian hillsides, standing alone on an English village green. It is one of the Great Trees of London, the list Trees for Cities keeps of the capital's remarkable trees, and it is the only tree of its kind on the green. The name comes from the terrace of Maids of Honour Row close by, though no source we have read explains how the pine came to carry it. What we do not know is most of the rest. Nobody has published its age, a planting date or a girth, and we will not guess. If you know when it was planted, or have measured it, tell us. It has had a rough year. Wikipedia's Great Trees of London list reports that the pine lost a major limb in August 2026. We have not seen the damage for ourselves, so read that as reported rather than confirmed; naturalists recorded the tree on the green in 2025. If you visit, tell us how it looks now. The green is open public grass, free at every hour, five minutes' walk from Richmond station.
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Getting there
Richmond Green, Richmond TW9
You can recognise it by its umbrella-shaped crown, the only stone pine on a green of planes, limes and horse chestnuts. It stands alone on the Maids of Honour Row side, near the Old Palace gatehouse.
Free. Open public green (Richmond Green), open at all times.
Richmond station (District line, Overground, National Rail), about 5 minutes' walk.
Sources
Where the facts on this page come from. The story was written with AI from these sources, and readers who know the tree correct it.
