Tree drawings

Trees in themselves can be memorable. However, since time immemorial, trees have been planted to provide remembrance of people, places and events. Ewan has been drawing examples of such trees to help raise funds for the places concerned.

In his latest exhibition, trees representing three charitable organisations have been shown at the Wildfowl and Wetland Trust Centre in Washington. The originals have been donated to the charities and the proceeds from the sale of prints have been divided between them and the WWT. Apart from Slimbridge, Washington is the only WWT Centre to have a wildlife gallery.

Silver Birch at St Edmund Hall, Oxford

The charities involved have been:

• St Mary the Virgin church, Old Seaham,one of the oldest churches in the country, dating back to at least the 7th century;
• St Mary Magdalene church, Debenham, a large East Anglian church, dating from the 11th century and one of the very few dedicated to Mary Magdalene; and
• St Edmund Hall, Oxford, a college of the university which claims to be “the oldest academical society for the education of undergraduates in any university”. It is named after St Edmund of Abingdon, the founder of the university.

If your organisation is interested in raising funds in this way, please contact Ewan.

The church of St Mary the Virgin, Old Seaham, is one of the oldest churches in England, dating back to the late 7th or very early 8th century. It was about 400 years old when Durham Cathedral was completed. The church stands on a cliff above the North Sea and, during the services in winter, the waves can be heard pounding the shore below.

The churchyard contains many ancient graves and, standing guardian over them is a magnificent, spreading Sycamore tree. Since it appears in early etchings, the tree itself must have witnessed church restorations and many of the vicissitudes of life in Seaham.

Sycamore (from North) – 14.13

Sycamore (from East) – 14.14

News of a fossil forest uncovered by marine erosion on the coast of Spain, brought to mind the fossil trees of Weardale, County Durham.

Fossil Tree, Stanhope
© Copyright Andrew Curtis and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

At Stanhope, the main settlement in upper Weardale, there is a magnificent specimen of a fossil tree built into the wall of the churchyard. The tree grew in the Carboniferous Period, some 320 million years ago. At that time, the area was covered in equatorial rainforest and, in fact, lay almost astride the equator. The tree is a Sigillaria species, a 30 metre high ancestor of today’s club mosses.

The fossil was discovered in a sandstone quarry near Stanhope in 1915 and had to be transported in large pieces to be reassembled in the churchyard in 1964. The sandstone has formed a perfect cast of the tree so that even the detail of the bark can appreciated. The fossil tree is well worth a visit.