And another Victorian Cedar of Lebanon, planted in Robert Harrild’s garden at his house on Round Hill. By the 1830s Harrild had become very wealthy by manufacturing and supplying printing machinery to London and the world. He is buried by the main entrance of St Bartholomews in Sydenham.
The tree stands next to the church spire from the city church St Antholins which Harrild also had in his garden. The house would have looked over the rural Sydenham Common and the reservoir for the Croydon Canal.
Friends of Mayow Park have a write up from 2018 when they gave a walking tour around some of their trees. Perhaps not as aged or notable as the examples above, it’s still quite interesting and gives some things to look out for on my next trip to the park:
Lots more info in the article, but I found the ‘binary oaks’ interesting:
Another Cedar of Lebanon, this time in Mayow Park. From its diameter it looks older than the 1878 establishment of the park itself. Perhaps originally planted in one of the Victorian gardens that pre date the park, on land that was then donated by local landowners for public use.
On the other hand, it was mostly fields on that side of the path that became Mayow Road. This map is 1870s. Maybe the Cedar and the two Monkey Puzzles were planted as part of the landscaping of the new park.
Oh Thats brilliant! Theres one tree I always felt very drawn to during the first lockdown and would go and give its trunk a pat whenever I passed by-I’ve always wondered what sort of tree it is and I feel very comforted whenever I pass by and see it standing tall and majestic and strong.
Now I can find out exactly what type of tree it actually is!
Standing in the playground is what used to be the tallest tree in the park, a fine female Black Poplar, probably a hybrid. In the summer of 2015 she was given a radical pollarding after a branch dropped on the playground. She should recover from this in a few years …
Unfortunately it does not yet cover the WHOLE of London, which is why you will see some gaps in places on the map and you will not be able to create a trail in some areas.
