109. Liberator Redwood
109. Liberator Redwood
Loaded with character, a giant redwood appears to proffer a welcoming limb to visitors of a Dublin cemetery.
Many significant monuments greet those arriving at Glasnevin Cemetery from the Finglas Road entrance. The O’Connell Tower, a round tower marking the tomb of nineteenth century champion of Catholic emancipation Daniel O’Connell, is a landmark many come to see. Next to it, and equally impressive is the Liberator Redwood, a giant redwood with an expressive lower limb that arches just above human head height.
Species details
Giant redwood
Sequoiadendron giganteum
Where to find it
Glasnevin Cemetery, Finglas Road, Dublin 11, D11 XA32
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More giant redwoods
London’s Street Trees now in stock!
The third edition of my book, London’s Street Trees – A Field Guide to the Urban Forest is now in stock and will be shipping next week.
The new edition has more pages, more tree species and more features about London’s urban forest. One of the species to be included for the first time is the Lemon, represented by a single tree growing on a Shoreditch street which featured on my Substack a few weeks back. There’s also a feature about the ‘Great Street Trees of London’ including a curious postbox-eating London plane among many delights throughout the city.
What a truly magnificent tree! Is it from the same generation as that great UCC redwood, you showed us in May? With our warming and fires out here on the west coast of the U.S., it is gladdening to know Ireland hosts a good number of them, where congenial conditions exist. I think it a wonderful idea to put viewing benches at a suitable distance from such great trees, where thoughtful visitors can just regard the trees in all kinds of weather and light.. the inherent wonderfulness seeps into the perception of even the most crass if they but give time to being still.
Walking distance from my house are around 100 or so Giant Redwoods, of about 140 years old, many of them in a huge avenue, the rest spread across many acres of woodland. They are in Havering Country Park, which was landscaped by the Macintosh family who planted the avenue of Redwoods leading to their mansion. The mansion fell into disrepair and, sadly, was demolished in 1925. However, their lasting legacy has been this wonderful collection of trees.