17. Rowe Street Deodar
A shapely cedar in a Wexford car park induces speculation about what may have grown here in the past.
The Church of the Immaculate Conception on Rowe Street now finds itself surrounded by a car park. We can only imagine what the garden of rest that presumably once surrounded this church was like, although a surviving deodar north of the church with its elegant, spreading form provides a hint of past splendours. In their native Himalayas, deodars are known as devadāru, a Sanskrit word meaning ‘wood of the gods’, no wonder then that this tree was saved when the rest of the churchyard was carpeted in tarmac.
Species details
Deodar
Cedrus deodara
Where to find it
Church of the Immaculate Conception, Rowe Street Upper, Wexford, Y35 KX66
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Deodar notes
Deodars are one of the three commonly encountered species of true cedars and usually the easiest to identify. They can become very tall and often maintain a conical silhouette as they mature, unlike the cedar of Lebanon or Atlas cedar. However there are always exceptions, and the Wexford tree has taken on a distinctly Lebanese shape, but the drooping new growth at the end of its branches is a feature typical of deodars.