Day 49. The Wellingtonias

Another feature of the former park is the row of Wellingtonia trees, not far from the folly mound discussed yesterday.

In 1852, naturalist William Lobb discovered a conifer rumoured to exist in California, a tree of massive proportions which is today the largest tree species in the world. One of these trees had a diameter of 30 feet, and when felled a section of its trunk was used to accommodate a piano and an audience of forty people.

Lobb was soon rushing specimens back to Britain. Within a few years thousands of saplings were being snatched up by wealthy landowners to adorn their estates. James Roberts-West of Alscot Park probably planted these specimens in his park around this time.

The newly-discovered tree needed a scientific name to complement the common name of Giant Redwood, now used worldwide. Washingtonia was proposed, after the first US president, but the un-American Wellingtonia was eventually chosen, after the Duke of Wellington who had died in 1852. The name Sequioadendron giganteum eventually replaced this, but in Britain the original name stuck, and the trees are still known as Wellingtonias today.