LEAN ON ME!
Community rallies to prevent tree from collapse
Arescue plan to prop up a 200-year-old holm oak in County Down, Northern Ireland, is under way. Known as ‘Old Homer’, the ancient specimen of Quercus ilex in Rostrevor’s Kilbroney Park had been leaning so precariously that cracks had appeared at the base of the trunk.
The risk of imminent collapse triggered drastic action, so two tonnes of the canopy was carefully thinned out last summer to reduce the strain, but without changing the tree’s appearance. Now two huge galvanised steel frames have been inserted beneath the branches to prop up the tree, potentially giving it another 100 years of life.
Councillor Mark Gibbons said the process to rescue the tree, which was the Woodland Trust ‘Tree of the Year’ in 2016, had been driven by the Rostrevor community.
The tree is popular with local children but there were increasing health and safety concerns given it could collapse at any time.
“There was a huge public demand to save it,” said Mark. “The man who really pushed this was local tree expert Paul Clerkin. Nobody really knows for sure what caused the lean
– some people say the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (a mythical Irish warrior) leaned against it! The tree had grown to try and support itself, but in recent years there was quite rapid deterioration. The support structure visually signifies for me the close and everlasting nature of our relationship with nature.”