Purleigh - All Saints Church (Essex)
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Purleigh - All Saints Church (Essex) |
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Here in All Saints church Purleigh stand two Wellingtonia. One tall and proud, and a picture of health. The other, though, stands as a stark reminder of the Giant Redwood's most fearsome enemy - lightning strikes. Many of Britain's Giant Redwoods will have suffered lightning damage at some time in their long lives - it is just one of the hazards for any tall tree. Usually they will simply suffer a frazzled top and perhaps a burn mark down the trunk, but they soon recover and continue venturing upward once again. This time, things were a little different! It looks as though an immense blast has hit this tree, and as you can see, left us with very little of the original. It has been tidied and made safe by a firm of arboriculturists. There is still plenty of green foliage on the remaining one third or so of the tree and this looks in good health, but its future had been the subject of some debate in Purleigh Parish council in September 2003. The strike happened in Monday 11th August 2003. A very black Monday indeed!  In 2010 this tree is still standing and growing vigorously, as can be seen in this picture of what is now the top of the tree. Several new leaders can be seen growing vertically and will eventually result in one or more new trunks. It will be interesting to see the result of this growth in a few decades time.  This cemetery also boasts a nice sized Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) which is worth seeing. |
| Common Names and Latin Name | No. | Latitude and Longitude | OS National Grid | Elevation (above sea-level) |
Height | Girth | Date Measured | |
| WGS84 | OSGB36 | |||||||
| Giant Redwood Sequoiadendron giganteum |
1 | N51.68672 E0.66289 |
N51.68621 E0.66457 |
TL 84167 02018 | 130ft (39.6m) |
24.7m -- |
4.3m 4.3m |
August 2010 February 2005 |
| 2 | N51.68698 E0.66281 |
N51.68647 E0.66449 |
TL 84160 02047 | 132ft (40.2m) |
12.9m | 4.35m | August 2010 | |
| Dawn Redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides |
3 | N51.68705 E0.66269 |
N51.68654 E0.66437 |
TL 84152 02055 | 134ft (40.9m) |
16.2m -- |
1.47m 1.3m |
August 2010 February 2005 |
| Tree No. 2 was the one struck by lightning. Girth was measured at 1.5m from ground. | ||||||||