Purleigh - All Saints Church (Essex)

Tree No. 1 - February 2005 (from behind The Bell public house)

Tree No. 1 - September 2017 (from The Bell car park)

Here in All Saints church Purleigh stand two Giant Redwood (Tree Nos. 1 & 2) and a Dawn Redwood (Tree No. 3). One of the Giant Redwood trees (Tree No. 1) is shown in the photographs above and stands tall and proud, a picture of health. The branches missing on one side are due to other trees that were growing beside it until fairly recently. This is a natural phenomenon where the tree discards its branches when shaded. No doubt in order to conserve energy for rocketing skyward. The other Giant Redwood (Tree No. 2), in the photographs below, became a stark reminder of these trees' 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 had hit this tree, and as you can see in the 2005 picture, it left us with very little of the original. It had been tidied and made safe by a firm of arboriculturists. There was still plenty of green foliage on the remaining one third or so of the tree and this looked in good health, but its future had been the subject of some debate in Purleigh Parish council in September 2003. The strike happened on Monday 11th August 2003. A very black Monday indeed and yet, as you can see in the photographs below, the tree recovered and was still growing vigorously sixteen years later in 2019.

Tree No. 2 - February 2005 (Eighteen months after the lightning strike)

Tree No. 2 - August 2005 (from the top of the church tower)

Tree No. 2 - August 2005 (from the top of the church tower)

Tree No. 2 - August 2010 (several new leaders can be seen growing vertically)

Tree No. 2 - September 2013 (from the church)

Tree No. 2 - September 2013 (from the opposite side)

Tree No. 2 - September 2017 (from the church)

Tree No. 2 - September 2017 (from the opposite side)

The lightning struck Giant Redwood (Tree No. 2) was still growing well in September 2017 and the tatty remains of its original tip are virtually hidden from view behind the new leaders as can be seen in the above photographs taken from opposite sides of the tree.

Tree No. 2 - April 2023

On a visit in April 2023 the scar was still visible but this tree looks in great health and some of the dreaded ivy has been removed after this photograph was taken.

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Tree No. 3 - August 2005 (from the top of the church tower)

Tree No. 3 - September 2013

Tree No. 3 - September 2017

The cemetery also boasts a nice sized Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides) (Tree No. 3) which is worth seeing. In September 2017 this tree was sporting a large number of male and female young cones. Click on the picture below for a closer look. In September 2019 the Dawn Redwood was not looking particularly good. Although the foliage that was on the tree looked in reasonable health the overall covering was very sparse, possibly due to the lack of rain that Summer. Sadly on a vist in April 2023 we saw that this tree had been removed.

Tree No. 3 - September 2017

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)	25.7m 26.1m 25.8m 25.3m 24.7m --	4.8m 4.8m 4.8m 4.3m 4.3m 4.3m	February 2024 September 2019 September 2017 September 2013 August 2010 February 2005
	2	N51.68698 E0.66281	N51.68647 E0.66449	TL 84160 02047	132ft (40.2m)	20.7m 18.9m 17.6m 12.1m 12m	4..82m 4.7m 4.7m 4.38m 4.35m	February 2024 September 2019 September 2017 September 2013 August 2010
Dawn Redwood Metasequoia glyptostroboides	3	N51.68705 E0.66269	N51.68654 E0.66437	TL 84152 02055	134ft (40.9m)	- 16.3m 16.6m 16.8m 16.2m --	- 1.7m 1.69m 1.5m 1.47m 1.3m	R.I.P. September 2019 September 2017 September 2013 August 2010 February 2005
Tree No. 2 was struck by lightning in 2003.    Girth was measured at 1.5m from ground.