MUCH is often made of Wanstead and Woodford's 'village' character, and the authors of a new book about London's most beautiful trees seem to agree.
Two fine arboreal specimens from the area – the copper beech outside St Mary's Church in South Woodford and the largest sweet chestnut on George Green in Wanstead – have been included in The Great Trees of London.
The book, published by Time Out, recommends the South Woodford tree for a crown of “almost perfect shape”, while the Wanstead tree is notable because it's “full of character” and “broad and bulky”.
Believed to date from the early 1700s, the George Green tree is part of a trio, one of which was badly damaged when the M11 link road was built underneath the green in 1993 – despite a groundswell of local activism and support for its preservation.
Other trees in Redbridge included in the book are the oak tree in Fulwell Cross roundabout and the maple tree near the pond in Valentines Park in Ilford.
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