Oak · 150 years
Vernon Road in Dore is said to have only one tree, and in October 2017 a protester climbed it to stop it being cut down. The oak was on Sheffield's felling list under the city's street tree contract, and the fight over it reached the national press. The TV presenter Vernon Kay, whose name it happens to share, backed the campaign.
It was here first. The oak began as a field boundary tree, standing in farmland before the suburb grew up around it, which is why it now sits in the pavement of a residential road. Trees for Cities, writing in December 2018, called it about 150 years old and one of the most celebrated trees in Sheffield, and listed it among those the council agreed to keep after it reversed course that year. An independent panel of tree experts reportedly described it as a very fine specimen in excellent condition, with another 150 years of life ahead.
One honest gap. The sources call it an oak and nothing more precise, so we have not established which species. Most big oaks in this part of Yorkshire are pedunculate oaks, but that is a guess, and if you can tell from the leaves or the acorns, let us know.
The last firm news of it is the decision to keep it, in 2018. The exact spot along the road is not pinned either, so look for the single large oak in the pavement.