Purleigh - All Saints Church (Essex)

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 has been the subject of some debate in Purleigh Parish council - as you can see by clicking here. The strike happened in Monday 11th August 2003. A very black Monday indeed! This cemetery also boasts a nice sized Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) which is worth seeing.

Common Names	Latin Names	No.	Girth	Date Measured
Giant Redwood, Wellingtonia	Sequoiadendron giganteum	1	4.3m	February 2005
		2	4.6m	February 2005
Tree No. 2 was the one struck by lightning.    Girth was measured at 1.5m from ground.