Thanks to Jeff who sent these photographs of an avenue of Giant Redwoods lining the drive at Royal Earlswood Park. The picture of the foliage shows the male cones, they are the tiny yellow/brown swellings at the end of the branchlets.
The building in the grounds is now private residential flats but it was originally built as a psychiatric hospital and asylum for people with learning disabilities. Prince Albert laid the foundation stone in June 1853 and opened the Asylum in June 1855. This was probably when the avenue was planted.
It is said that two of the Queen's cousins, Katherine Bowes-Lyon and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, lived most of their lives in the Royal Earlswood Hospital. They were kept there without visits from the Royal Family and were declared dead by Buckingham Palace, reputedly in an intentional fabrication. The hospital closed in 1997, amidst allegations of irregular care and abuse. |
