Wilberforce Oak

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The grounds of Holwood House contain the stump of a tree known as the Wilberforce Oak -- easily distinguished from the surrounding trees by the stone seat constructed in its shade. A Wilberforce diary entry in 1788 reads: "At length, I well remember after a conversation with Mr. Pitt in the open air at the root of an old tree at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the vale of Keston, I resolved to give notice on a fit occasion in the House of Commons of my intention to bring forward the abolition of the slave-trade".

A new oak sapling was planted in 1969 to replace the original pollard oak (Quercus robur, also known as English brown oak). The work was carried out by the Forestry Section of the Kent County Council's Estates Department in collaboration with the Anti-Slavery Society of Denison University.[1]

The original tree blew down in a storm in 1991.[2]

A descendant of the Wilberforce Oak may have existed on the grounds of the Victoria Truth Centre (1201 Fort Street, Victoria, BC, Canada). This is the site of the now-demolished Pentrelew Place -- estate of Henry Pering Pellew Crease (1823-1905). Crease was the first barrister qualified to practice in the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island. In a story repeated in many local histories[3], the oaks on the south side of the house were grown from acorns sent to Crease by "Torrens" -- probably Robert Torrens (1814-1884) -- who had gathered them from the original "Tree of Liberty" in Pitt's garden.

In 2008 there was red oak (Quercus rubra) on what was formerly Pentrelew's south lawn, and a white oak (Quercus alba) on the former front lawn. But no pollard oak.

[edit] References

  1. ^ “Wilberforce Oak Replanted.” Journal of the Institute of Landscape Architects. No. 85 (Feb. 1969).
  2. ^ Under the boughs of history - Telegraph
  3. ^ See, for example, Michael Kluckner, Victoria: The Way It Was (1986), p. 127.