'Tree in the tower' is in the running for a national award

A 200-year-old tree growing out of the tower of Culmstock Church is in the running to be named the nation’s favourite.

The Woodland Trust is looking for its ‘Tree of the Year’, and voting is open to the public.

The Culmstock yew grows straight out of the flint rubble masonry, sustained by the lime and sand mortar and occasional waterings during hot weather.

The Trust says: “To flourish in such conditions is impressive, but to do so for two centuries is extraordinary. The tree is mentioned in a local directory from 1857, the 1894 R.D. Blackmore novel ‘Perlycross’, and poems from 1878 and 1900.”

No one really knows how the tree got there, but reports suggest a seed could have been accidentally mixed into mortar during repairs, or carried by a bird. A third theory is that it was planted to displace evil spirits when the roof was sealed in the 1300s, known as a ‘topping out’.

The tree was reported as failing in 1904, showing signs of undernourishment and dying branches. It clearly bounced back, and modern surveys show both tree and tower remain healthy.

Last year’s winner was an ash tree growing between houses in Glasgow.

This year's competition is about celebrating nature's great survivors, and has been given the theme ‘against the odds’. These arboreal miracles have faced plane crashes, Dutch elm disease, diggers, the English Civil War and cliff edges. But whatever has come their way, they have stood, clung and stayed alive for centuries – even millennia.

May Chemais, who runs the Ancient Tree Inventory at the Woodland Trust, said: “Trees can be both tough and flexible, as the shortlist proves. Some, like yews, will rearrange their structure to keep on living.”

Voting is open until 5pm on 29 September via the Woodland Trust website, with a winner announced in early October.