The Pagoda Tree of West Walk

In 1936 someone put a tape round this tree and wrote down six feet six inches. In 2025 the University Parks measured it again and got eleven feet two, or 3.43 metres. That is nearly a metre and a half of new trunk in 89 years, and the tree was already 48 years old when the first figure was taken. It is a Japanese pagoda tree, a species native to China despite its name, and the Parks record its planting in 1888. That makes it one of the oldest specimens in the University Parks by their own account, and it carries the number 14302 on their published list of trees. Its moment is July, when it flowers in creamy yellow. Those flowers are the source of a transparent pigment known as Imperial Yellow, a grand name to attach to a tree on a park walk. The planting date comes from the Parks' records rather than an estimate, so the age is as firm as these things get, well over a century, with two measurements 89 years apart to show its progress. It stands on West Walk in the University Parks. Entry is free, the gates open at 7.45 in the morning and close at or just before sunset, and our pin marks the Parks rather than the trunk, so look for the walk and the tree's number.