5. Toon Wall Plane

A splendid nineteenth century London plane in the centre of Newcastle close to a remnant of the old town wall.

Welcome to The Street Tree! This is the fifth in a series of pithy illustrated posts about great individual trees from Britain and Ireland. I’ll be posting at least one a week over the coming months.

The distribution of London plane trees thins out the further north you travel, but they still make for handsome trees as the old trees in Newcastle’s St Andrews churchyard confirm. One particular tree, a burry individual closest to the remains of the medieval town wall is particularly photogenic. The church, Newcastle's oldest, had significant work done in 1726 and 1866, the latter is a likely planting date.

Species details

London Plane
Platanus x hispanica

Where to find it

St Andrews Church, Newgate St, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE1 5SS
///racing.debit.skirt | 54.973655, -1.618964

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London plane notes

There is no more quintessentially urban tree than the hybrid plane. In English it is known as the London plane; its rapid and abundant nineteenth century planting in new parks, grand thoroughfares and suburban streets was so conspicuous that it became inextricably linked with the booming metropolis. Its suitability for polluted urban conditions was soon realised, and planes were subsequently planted in every town and city aspiring to modern grandeur.

London planes on the Victoria Embankment in London were among the first trees of the species to be systematically planted in an urban street setting