Wellington's Wellingtonia

Only four years after the giant sequoia reached Britain from California, one of the country's first plantings went into the ground at the Duke of Wellington's own estate. Wellington bought Stratfield Saye in 1817 after Waterloo and lived there until his death in 1852; the species itself came to be called Wellingtonia in Britain in his honour, and this specimen was planted in his memory, by either the 2nd Duke in 1854 or the Duchess in 1857, sources differ on which. Either way it stands roughly 170 years old now, one of the country's original Wellingtonias rather than a later addition once the fashion for the tree had caught on. It was named one of 50 Great British Trees chosen by the Tree Council for the Golden Jubilee in 2002, a shortlist covering the whole country. Do not confuse it with the Wellingtonia Avenue ten miles away near Camberley, a different memorial to the same Duke and a mile-long planting of over a hundred trees rather than one. Stratfield Saye's grounds open on a limited seasonal calendar, roughly a week in April and most of August, ticketed at around five pounds; the house itself needs a separate, timed tour. The same estate is said to hold Copenhagen's grave nearby, Wellington's own Waterloo warhorse, buried beneath an oak of its own.