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Heritage Trees Wales
An amazing journey around the nation’s oldest and most remarkable trees, Heritage Trees Wales is a collection of the most beautiful, historic, and important trees in Wales, from the well-known to those rarely seen. Steeped in history and surrounded by myth and legend, many of these trees dominate their surroundings with their physical and cultural presence. Others are more hidden from view. This stunning book by Archie Miles captures the full fascinating story of heritage trees in Wales. This magnificent collection is for everyone interested in the environment, ecology, history, and folklore of Wales. Published in association with The Tree Council, with support from Countryside Council for Wales and Forestry Commission Wales.
260 pages, Hardcover
First published April 1, 2012
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April 11, 2015
After reading Thomas Pakenham's
Meetings with Remarkable Trees
and feeling underwhelmed with the severe lack of Welsh representation in his collection of remarkable 'British and Irish' trees, I sought out Archie Miles' Heritage Trees of Wales.
The format is largely the same as Pakenham's: take an interesting tree, photograph it and then research its connections with local history and folklore. It makes for some very interesting reading and viewing.
However, just like Pakenham, there's a sort of sampling bias... First, due to living in England, Miles made outings to Wales in order to collect data; as a result the majority of trees come from the land joined to the Welsh Marches in the East. There are a few interesting trees from West Wales and North Wales, but not enough in my opinion.*
Secondly, I felt like there were too many Churchyard yew trees featured (they're the highest proportion in the book: 22 out of 74, some 30%). It's not that I dislike the yew, many are staggeringly old -- ancient remnants of a pre-Christian Britain, their trunks flowing in a most unique manner, with shapes that inspire fantasy (and this book elegantly captures all of that mysticism); but it seemed the focus was a little skewed.
That said, there's some really fascinating trees featured in the book from a variety of species. Favourites of mine were: Bodnant Laburnum Arch (p.182), Nantglyn Yew (p.188), Charles Acker's Redwood grove (p.234), Golden Grove Red Cedars (p.144), Curley Oak (p.102), Ty-uchaf Wall Ash (p.64) The Patriach Tree (p.220), Brecon Black Poplar (p.130), Silent Valley Beeches (p.122) and a great focus on the rare and elusive Whitebeams of Wales throughout.
A promising start to chronicling Welsh trees in a photographic format. Would like to see a 2nd edition with a few more South-West Welsh trees someday.
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*I highly recommend visiting Swansea and the Gower as both locations are teeming with green spaces and incredible trees. For example, in Singleton Park there's the strange occurrence of an oak that has intertwined itself with a handsome expatriate Giant Redwood.
The format is largely the same as Pakenham's: take an interesting tree, photograph it and then research its connections with local history and folklore. It makes for some very interesting reading and viewing.
However, just like Pakenham, there's a sort of sampling bias... First, due to living in England, Miles made outings to Wales in order to collect data; as a result the majority of trees come from the land joined to the Welsh Marches in the East. There are a few interesting trees from West Wales and North Wales, but not enough in my opinion.*
Secondly, I felt like there were too many Churchyard yew trees featured (they're the highest proportion in the book: 22 out of 74, some 30%). It's not that I dislike the yew, many are staggeringly old -- ancient remnants of a pre-Christian Britain, their trunks flowing in a most unique manner, with shapes that inspire fantasy (and this book elegantly captures all of that mysticism); but it seemed the focus was a little skewed.
That said, there's some really fascinating trees featured in the book from a variety of species. Favourites of mine were: Bodnant Laburnum Arch (p.182), Nantglyn Yew (p.188), Charles Acker's Redwood grove (p.234), Golden Grove Red Cedars (p.144), Curley Oak (p.102), Ty-uchaf Wall Ash (p.64) The Patriach Tree (p.220), Brecon Black Poplar (p.130), Silent Valley Beeches (p.122) and a great focus on the rare and elusive Whitebeams of Wales throughout.
A promising start to chronicling Welsh trees in a photographic format. Would like to see a 2nd edition with a few more South-West Welsh trees someday.
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*I highly recommend visiting Swansea and the Gower as both locations are teeming with green spaces and incredible trees. For example, in Singleton Park there's the strange occurrence of an oak that has intertwined itself with a handsome expatriate Giant Redwood.
Displaying 1 of 1 review