A copper beech planted at the water's edge around the time the 20th century began, and still standing there: that is what the national monumental tree register records in the southern part of Park 't Engelse Werk. Its entry, filed under the Dutch name bruine beuk, gives a planting band of 1900 to 1910, which puts the tree at around 120 years old. That age is read from the band rather than from a record of the day it went in. The water it stands beside is itself an addition. The park was laid out in 1828 to 1830 on the site of old fortifications, and the large pond with its wooded islets came later, after 1874. So the beech was planted into a landscape that had already been reshaped once. Zwolle's council keeps its own list of special trees, and it records several copper beeches in this park, planted in 1887, 1927 and 1937 among other years. That confirms copper beeches of this generation grow here, but the list carries no locations, so it cannot tell us which entry is this tree. The register alone names this specimen, and we say so plainly. What you get on the ground is a small cluster: the park's silver lime stands about 45 metres away, and the register's beech by the restaurant about 200 metres off. Nobody has published a girth for this one. If you have a tape measure, send us the number.
Southern part of Park 't Engelse Werk, by the water, Zwolle You can recognise it by the dark purple leaves of a copper beech, standing at the water's edge in the southern part of the park. The silver lime by the footbridge is about 45 metres away.
Free. Park 't Engelse Werk is a 16-hectare public walking park owned by the municipality, open at all times; the national register records this tree as visitable (visitable: ja).
About 1.8 km southwest of Zwolle station, roughly 23 minutes on foot.