195. Siege Tree
A tree in a prominent position on Derry’s City Walls raises questions.
The Siege Tree is a sycamore on Derry’s city walls near St Augustine’s Church and Walker’s Plinth. Occupying a position overlooking the Bogside, it is an ideal spot to contemplate the city and its history. Besieged during the Williamite War of 1688–91, the walls held and remained unbreached. They were closed during the Troubles, but today you can get up close to see, and even feel, the tree.
Our tree is one of fourteen, all sycamores. They represent the thirteen Apprentice Boys plus one for James Morrison, another historic figure associated with the siege and celebrated by Loyalists. Sycamores were chosen for their key-like samara (the winged seeds – a feature common to all the maples), a reference to the keys used to lock the City’s gates. Originally planted in the nineteenth century to remember events of two centuries before, those growing today are replacements planted after 1940.
Their position on the walls looking down on the Catholic community in the Bogside might raise an eyebrow. The Siege Tree asks the question, to what extent do trees embody human values – is planting always an act of beautification or can it be an act of triumphalism? Perhaps the answer is not a binary choice, meanings and intent can change over time.
Species details
Sycamore
Acer pseudoplatanus
Where to find it
Magazine Street Upper, Derry BT48 6HA
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