The Marton Oak

Species: Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak) - a curious change of name, as for over two hundred years it was identified by others as a Sessile Oak (Q. petraea).

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Estimated Age (in 2025): 1,200 to maybe 1,400 years

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Form: natural pollard - with a long-fragmented trunk

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Girth at 1.5m: 14.6m (measured in August 2025)

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Estimated Year of Birth: it is really pure guesswork as this extremely large oak could indeed be anywhere up to perhaps 1,400 years old. It is interesting to note that the illustration above from around the year 1810 actually bears a close resemblance to the fragmented-bole tree that we find growing very healthily today.

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Reigning Monarch at the time: It's hard to know when this tree was born, but if we say 1,400 years ago, there was no single "king" of Cheshire (around 625 AD). At that time, it was part of the contested frontier between the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria and the Welsh kingdoms. The most notable ruler in the area was Æthelfrith, King of Northumbria, who defeated a Welsh army near Chester in 616 AD and exerted control over the region. 

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1200 years ago, in 825 AD, Cheshire was under the overlordship of Ecgberht of Wessex and was governed as part of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Mercia.

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The likely youngest age would be around 1,000 years old, at which time, the King of England was Cnut (often spelled Canute) the Great. He ruled England from 1016 until his death in 1035, as well as being King of Denmark and later Norway during this period.

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Story: even as long ago as 1810 this tree was considered by some to be the largest in Britain, as mentioned in Magna Britannia by Daniel and Samuel Lysons. It was also described in J.P. Earwaker's East Cheshire Past and Present (1877).

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Botanical note: how curious that this tree has been identified for over 200 years as a Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea). However, it is quite clear from the long peduncles with acorns, as well as leaves often having basal auricles, that it is in fact an English or Pedunculate Oak: Quercus robur. How can it be that people have misidentified one of the most iconic trees of Britain for so long? Measured at 14.6m in girth by Benedict in August 2025, this is probably the largest-girthed oak in Europe, maybe the world. The Kvilleken Oak in Sweden is perhaps larger, but sadly in very poor health, and has perhaps perished.​

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Sizes available:

READY FROM AUTUMN 2026

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Oakling ages:

A good number of acorns gathered in 2025.

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ID codes: BP xxx