Goodbye 63 Oak

 I first became aware of the 63 Oak when I was about three years old.  It had been growing in a nearby garden and occupying the same spot in the landscape for, perhaps, four hundred years – maybe longer.

The oak tree taught all who came to know it just how large a variety of insects, birds and mammals were supported within its branches and it is because the tree is there we came to understand the relationship between species and this tree in particular, or at least this species of tree rather than a whole variety of other trees and shrubs in the landscape.

Readers can consult the 63 Oak in Kate Bretherton's second book The Remarkable Trees of St Albans where this and a nearby cousin are still  growing.

This map was published in 1610 and the name Beamondes (Beaumonts) is shown near the top left.
Was 63 Oak already a sapling or had it yet to appear?
COURTESY HALS

A century later the second Manor House (where Central Drive/Woodland Drive junction now is)
had been completed.  How large had 63 Oak grown by the early eighteenth century?
COURTESY HISTORIC ENGLAND

Shortly before the final farmhouse was put up at the start of the 19th century 63 Oak was one of
the field edge trees on the northern field boundary in field 105.
COURTESY HALS

In 1929 a group of friends walked the path against the farm yard wall which would shortly
be replaced ( a little to the left) by Beechwood Avenue.  They have passed the 63 Oak in
the background, and one of the group aspired to own a house in this new
development – specifically the house with this specific oak tree in the garden! ...
COURTESY RACHEL TRAVERS

... which he later did.

COURTESY RACHEL TRAVERS

We shall shortly be able to discover when the 63 Oak first emerged from the soil – more of that later – but in terms of age the tree's present setting is very young; the Beaumonts housing estate began to be laid out from 1930 and will therefore celebrate its centenary in five years time.  A group of young friends were walking along a path parallel to the developing Beechwood Avenue when one of them aspired to one day live in the as-yet-unbuilt house in which the giant oak would continue to flourish within its garden.  This young man later made his dream come true!

At the time Beaumonts Farm had only recently been closed down from farming use; the fields with names going back centuries had quickly become somewhat weed infested, and one or two, probably one with the 63 Oak in it, remained suitable grazing for horses kept by the final tenant of the farm, although horses had traditionally been reared and maintained at Beaumonts.  Where the junction of Central Drive and Woodland Drive are now laid out, had previously been at least two manor houses, one surrounded by a medieval moat; and finally the 19th century tenant farm homestead.  The earliest found reference to Beaumonts (or Beamonds) extends back to the fifteenth century, but probably a lot earlier if only hare had been surviving records.  63 Oak possibly saw all or most of this history.

To the young author in 1948 63 Oak was an ever-present source of fascination, and
thus far no-one had tampered with its structure.

If the Beaumonts estate had been submitted for planning consent today 63 Oak would probably have been a protected tree and the development company would have been required to set out the estate with a park as public open space centred around the oak.  It is indeed fortunate that pre-war gardens were often on plots of 150 x 30 feet.  Even so few people today would take on the responsibility for accommodating mature trees such as giant oaks on their flower and vegetable patches.

Fifteen years after being heavily pollarded this was its winter dressing after a being heavily frosted.
COURTESY CHRIS NEIGHBOUR

This is undoubtedly the reason why the first attempt at "pruning" took place in the early 1960s, as major limbs began to extend over the roof the the host house, and other limbs over several neighbouring gardens.

By 2012 a decision had been made to bring in the chain saws once more
to shape the crown...
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

... but this was a summer picture and the left half had suffered badly. 
A much lower leaf density remains on the right but the future of the tree
looked close to its end.

The final picture is also a summer one; 2025 in fact.  There is no sign of life and there will be an increasing risk to its safety from now on.
COURTESY VIC FOSTER

Nevertheless only one further prune had taken place in more recent years.  This trim had been surgically efficient and had proved to be beyond recovery.  Recent springs had seen few leaves and in 2025 the crown was completely barren.  So the rather expensive task of safely felling the giant was planned and will be executed before the end of July, together with a wholesale clearance of the rest of the back garden.

Only then will it be possible to count the growth rings and discover its true age.

Many memories have been recovered from the period when we were children and as young adults we grew our vegetables, cultivated our flowers and tended our fruit trees.  Observer books of birds, mammals and insects were always at hand as 63 Oak was our focus in all weathers.  When at the end of this month the destructive work is completed only a space of memories will be left shared mainly by a dozen or so families who lived in this and neighbouring gardens between 1940 and 2025.  The old tortoise of a tree will not be there to hug – in fact a group hug would still have been required.  Goodbye old friend.