Storm Arwen destroys County Durham's only champion tree

The crab apple in the grounds of Croxdale Hall, near Durham, is believed to be the largest and oldest tree of its kind in the country, which officially qualifies it as a “champion tree”.

Until November 27, the Croxdale crab had a girth of 3.55 metres. Now it has suffered a catastrophic collapse, its champion crown passes to a crab apple tree in Wiltshire which is now the country’s largest with a girth of three metres.

The Croxdale crab lies in a broken heap after Storm Arwen destroyed it. Picture: Den Gregson

“Apples have a lifespan of about 70 years but this was considerably older than that,” says Rodger Lowe of Teesdale Heritage Trees and Memories’ in-house arborist. “It’s 150 years old at least, maybe 200.

“I have known this tree for 20 years, and we have been watching and praying over it for 15.”

The Croxdale crab was known to be hollow but its collapse has revealed that it only had a two centimetre ring of life around its perimeter.

Since 1402, Croxdale Hall has been in the hands of the Salvin family, whose ancestor Joceus Le Flamengh came over from France with William the Conqueror. William rewarded Joceus by giving him land in Sherwood Forest that was so noted for its trees that Joceus adopted the surname Sylvan or Silvan – meaning “someone who inhabits woods”. Over the centuries, Silvan became Salvin.

So did a tree-loving Salvin originally plant the Croxdale crab?

The Croxdale crab in full flower in 2019. It may have been 200 years old. Picture: Den Gregson

“Usually you find crab apples in hedgerows,” says Rodger, of Staindrop. “They are never planted as specimen trees, but this one is in the middle of a sheep field and there’s no remnant of a hedgerow connected to it.

“If it had started growing there in the wild as a seedling, the sheep would have had it off, so I suspect someone planted it and fenced it round to get it going.”

All hope is not yet lost for the Croxdale crab. It may sprout again from its rootstock, if it is looked after, and for several years, Rodger has been growing seedlings from it while his colleague, Den Gregson, has been taking genetically-identical grafts from it.

“But we will not be around to see if any of those seedlings or grafts grow to assume its champion tree status,” says Rodger, sadly.

According to the Tree Register of Great Britain and Ireland, the new champion crab apple tree is in Savernake Forest, near Marlborough in Wiltshire.