The Plane of the Petruskerk

London planes shed their bark instead of quietly laying down new rings underneath it, sloughing off patches through the year to show paler wood beneath, which is why an old plane looks mottled and half-flayed rather than simply weathered. This one stands on the small square beside the Petruskerk in Hees, a Nijmegen district that was its own village before the city grew out to meet it. The Dutch national monumental tree register dates the planting to between 1870 and 1880, making the tree roughly 145 to 155 years old, and lists it as protected. That register is the only source found naming this specific tree: histories of the square and the church describe the setting in detail but not this plane by name, so the age rests on the register's word alone. The square sits on church grounds and reads as ordinary open public space, a small plaza in front of a working parish rather than an enclosed courtyard, and the register itself records it as visitable. Nothing else about this particular tree has surfaced yet. If you know more, tell us.