Lincolnshire
Grimsthorpe Castle
Grimsthorpe Castle has been in the Willoughby de Eresby family for five hundred years. It was granted by Henry VIII to William, Baron Willoughby de Eresby on the occasion of his marriage to Maria de Salinas, lady-in-waiting to Katherine of Aragon, in 1516. Rising majestically from the undulating landscape of south Lincolnshire, the castle is set in extensive parkland of great antiquity. The oldest part of the castle, King John’s Tower, was built in the early 13th century. It is the main front which gives the castle its grandeur and dramatic scale. The final masterpiece of Sir John Vanbrugh, architect of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard, it was commissioned in 1715 by Robert Bertie, Baron Willoughby de Eresby, to celebrate the family’s elevation to Dukes of Ancaster and Kesteven.
The magnificent parkland contains many veteran oaks, and some ancient oaks that predate the planting carried out in the 1700s.
We were fortunate enough to be invited to gather some acorns in 2018 and 2022 and have a few Grimsthorpe trees growing from a lovely veteran oak.
Lovely Stout Oak
Species: Quercus petraea (Sessile Oak)
Estimated Age: 386 years.
Form: natural pollard.
Girth at 1.5m: 5.78m (measured in 2015)
Estimated Year of Birth: 1636
Reigning Monarch at the time: Charles I.
Story: Grimsthorpe is an extraordinary park, with some areas left to nature, resembling how the old wood pasture scenes may have looked thousands of years ago. This tree is one of the very attractive veteran oaks.
Approximate sizes available (get in touch for prices):
150-250cm, 15 Litre pots (4 available)
Oakling ages: 7-year-olds (seed gathered in 2018).
ID code: BP 1624.
The Anchor
Species: Quercus robur (Pedunculate Oak)
Estimated Age (in 2025): 483 years.
Form: natural pollard.
Girth at 1.5m: 6.58m (measured in 2022).
Estimated Year of Birth: 1542
Reigning Monarch at the time: Henry VIII.
Story: This is a doughty old friend, growing as a solitary oak on the edge of arable land, holding pace since a one-week-old infant became Mary Queen of Scots.
Approximate sizes available:
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