please empty your brain below
Previously unaware of this installation, I think it's an inspired thing to have done except.. why locate the dense script on the inside face of the loops where it must've always been difficult to decipher?
As the tree canopy develops it'll become even more difficult to see; just as the history it describes will also recede from sight as time passes. Art is hard, no?

Frank F | 12.05.20 - 8:11 a.m. | #

Art installations always seem to have some counter-intuitive features, and I guess the hard-to-read inscriptions help to make them art. I wonder if they can be read better with binoculars and a narrowly focused torch beam.
In spite of the lack of hills, DG seems to have some fascinating stuff within daily walkng distance.
Designing the support arrangements for the rings must have been a challenge, ensuring that they stay level and do not harm the tree as it grows.

Malcolm | 12.05.20 - 9:02 a.m. | #

I can't work out how the hoops are fixed to the trees. Are they sort of hanging off the branches or attached to the tree trunk ?

Gary | 12.05.20 - 9:08 a.m. | #

DG thanks for another interesting post :) I've spent a fair bit of time this morning listening to the audio recordings all of which, except Track 1 on every page, seem to stream OK. I guess there's a coding issue, it looks like the Lucy Harrison site is in need of a little maintenance ;(

Kevin Too | 12.05.20 - 9:22 a.m. | #

Is there any significance if the ring is bronze or steel? Or is there a connection between the species and location of the tree?

Or is just 'this will look nice here'?

Anon | 12.05.20 - 10:37 a.m. | #

Fascinating DG. I had never heard of the History Trees but must have past quite a few of them on the Greenway and visits to the Olympic Park. Just checked my old photos and even the Dawn Redwood can't be see in my snaps of that area! Looks like a potential day trip to explore them once we are allowed to wander freely again.

davews | 12.05.20 - 10:40 a.m. | #

For the question askers:

"The History Trees were the brainchild of British artists Ackroyd and Harvey, whose website has full background details..."

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.05.20 - 10:46 a.m. | #

Thanks for posting the link to the art booklet which I wasn't aware of. Most of the artwork seems to still be in situ.

It was interesting going on the newly opened bit of the Greenway the other day and seeing the mothballed entrance of the park I was completely unaware of. All the familiar fixtures and fittings of the park but all highly overgrown. I wonder if it will ever reopen.

Sean | 12.05.20 - 10:54 a.m. | #

They look great. They remind me of the lights in the university campus in Devs.

Ian Brooker | 12.05.20 - 11:50 a.m. | #

Many of the trees appear to be in robust good health, but a few (such as the ash, the copper beech, both oaks) look a bit distressed: rather straggly, with bare branches. I hope someone is looking after them so they continue to enhance the local environment for many decades.

The redwood is a big tree, but it seems to be surrounded by tarmac now, whereas your 2014 photo shows lots of gravel and a large open circle around the trunk, as well as the bronze ellipse on the ground.

Andrew | 12.05.20 - 12:08 p.m. | #

Maybe it's time to add Tree Preservation Orders to these trees...

James Scantlebury | 12.05.20 - 1:01 p.m. | #

I've only managed to add five of them to OpenStreetMap. I'll have to fix that next time I take a walk rather than a run around the park.

Rob Skedgell | 12.05.20 - 2:55 p.m. | #

Alas I fear most of these trees will not live very long. Planting huge trees like this is rarely succcesful unless the enourmous cost of the tree and the cranes needed to plant them is matched with a comprehensive 5-10 year aftercare regime. Clearly that was not the case here and dieback is likely to continue. Some may survive by dying back and then rebuilding their root systems.
In fact when moving through the 2012 site you can see dead and dying trees all over the place. Typical 2012 'legacy'. Blow £billions on a 4 week party, never mind the future.

Russell | Homepage | 12.05.20 - 3:06 p.m. | #

The Olympic Park's horticultural team is extensive and ever-present.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 12.05.20 - 3:19 p.m. | #

Some of those tree trunks are going to more-than fill those hoops. As others have said, several don't look very healthy, so, if they live that long. I also hope they have TPOs on them.

In fact, if they don't have TPOs, anyone can request that one is considered. There should be a list of TPO protected trees in that Borough, somewhere.

Blue Witch | Homepage | 12.05.20 - 4:07 p.m. | #

a lovely post about lovely trees and lovely art... thank you...

❤Lee | 12.05.20 - 4:56 p.m. | #

Thanks for this post - I've meant on many an occasion to 'collect' all of the history trees but never quite got around to it.

martin | 12.05.20 - 9:59 p.m. | #

An interesting article thanks.

Regarding the Temple Mills Copper Beech Ring I visited Chobham Manor area, specifically Mobile Garden City and R-Urban Wick (enjoyed volunteering at R-Urban during 2016) and, because they were on as they call them meanwhile sites feared the Temple Mills Approach: Copper Beech ring tree would be felled by the apartments development.

Agree the lettering's a challenge to decipher (wanting a decent camera lens or the right light or time of day) unfortunately making as you say the detail lost to a casual passerby.

Noel cottrell | Homepage | 13.05.20 - 2:51 a.m. | #

They are such a beautiful, simple, inspired piece of public art, I've always loved seeing them in the park. Just such a shame that some are now hidden away and hard to access

lockedintheattic | 18.05.20 - 7:15 p.m. | #

"Some of those tree trunks are going to more-than fill those hoops"

The website says the rings have a 6m diameter - which of those trees will have a 6m diameter trunk?

lockedintheattic | 18.05.20 - 7:16 p.m. | #

Thanks to a question on reddit.com/whatisthisthing, this 2 year-old post has unexpectedly delivered the highest number of daily visitors to my blog ever.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 28.05.22 - 4:40 p.m. | #

I was bought to this page by a Reddit question on "r/whatisthis". I am so pleased as I had no idea about this installation.
Thank you for taking the time to tour them. Such a shame it sounds like it hasn't quite been pulled off if you can't read the inscriptions. I wonder if they are maintained?

Eleanor | 29.05.22 - 12:09 a.m. | #

Out of curiousity, I found the Temple Mills Approach tree in Google Street View. It was still looking very unwell in March 2021.

By August 2021, it seems to have been replaced with another tree, and sadly the ring is missing.

dg writes: It was replaced in April 2021.

J | 31.05.22 - 11:37 p.m. | #

Should've known it wouldn't have gotten past you!

J | 01.06.22 - 12:57 p.m. | #











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