Big Belly Oak

I have wanted to photograph this tree for many years, long before I joined Blipfoto. Today your intrepid explorer braved all to do just that.

The Big Belly Oak, a sessile Oak, Quercus petraea, stands incredibly close to the very busy A346 which runs through the Savernake Forest in Wiltshire, not far from Marlborough.

The tree is reputed to be 1100 years old (think William the Conquerer) with a girth of over 11.1 m, and to keep intact, it has been bound with a thick metal "belt". The trunk has been constrained by this and thus earned the name Big Belly Oak. You can clearly see the belt and how close the tree is to the road.

While tramping through the muddy woods I stumbled across another treasure which you can see in the Extra.

It is a milestone, marked on two sides as follows:

To
Tottenham House
2 Miles, 3 Furlongs and 143 yards.

To
Marlboro Town Hall
2 Miles, 7 Furlongs and 70 Yards.