51. Pen-y-Pound Oak

Abergavenny is well endowed with noteworthy trees including a fine Lucombe oak growing close to the goal posts on Pen-y-Pound playing fields.

Abergavenny has several surprising trees, all exceptional examples of their species. Not bad for a small market town with a population of less than 15,000. One of them is the striking Lucombe oak, a landmark growing at the southern end of the playing fields on Pen-y-Pound. It is an old tree that has been open-grown resulting in a broad, even canopy.

Species details

Lucombe oak
Quercus x crenata ‘Lucombeana’

Where to find it

Pen-y-Pound, Abergavenny NP7 7RN
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Lucombe oak notes

Lucombe oaks come from Devon, although they are not a native of that county. They are actually a cultivar that arose in the Exeter nursery of William Lucombe in 1762; by all accounts a chance hybrid between Turkey (Q. cerris) and cork (Q. suber) oaks. Mr. Lucombe noticed this vigorous sapling which rewarded his care and grew into a remarkable tree with semi-evergreen foliage midway in shape and character between the two parent species. Semi-evergreen trees are those whose green leaves will cling onto their twigs until spring when they fall leaving the tree briefly bare before new leaves appear a few weeks later. The two parent species have hybridised on numerous occasions and in many places, although their natural ranges intersect in just a few parts of eastern France and north western Italy, nevertheless it is thought the hybrid can occur naturally. But the specific hybridisation event that occurred in Devon 250 years ago is the only one that gave rise to a ‘Lucombe’ oak. Since that time, many hybrid trees of Quercus x crenata have been planted around Britain and Ireland, however few are true ‘Lucombe’ oaks which must be a clone of that original Exeter tree.

Emerging leaves and catkins of a Lucombe oak

A cork oak of note

50. North Circular Cork Oak