This splendid oak, clearly visible from the canal towpath between Silsden and Kildwick, has a six-meter girth, which indicates an age of more than 300 years.

Which means that when this tree was a sapling in the early 1700s, George 1 was on the throne as our first Hanoverian king, Britain had just appointed its first Prime Minister (Robert Walpole) and the population was a mere five million. Life expectancy was less than forty years and the industrial revolution had not yet begun.

Our oak, which has witnessed so much history, is registered on the Woodland Trust’s national map of ancient and veteran trees. It grows alongside the popular footpath that heads up from Grange Bridge to Kildwick Grange.

Such old trees are impressive and complex structures which offer lots of nooks and crannies for harbouring rare and specialist wildlife. The older the tree, the more vital to wildlife it becomes.

• Have you come across another tree of similar age in the locality? If so, please let the Campaign know, along with its species and location, and we will check it out.
• Also COMING SOON: TREE OF THE WEEK – a Campaign celebration of all that’s best among our local trees and hedgerows of whatever age.