Dulwich Crossroads Tree and Memorial

[Ruskin]

I see that the tree at the Village crossroads (opposite the schools) has been taken down by tree surgeons this morning. Was it diseased/unstable - and, seeing as its days before Remembrance Sunday, what of the memorial to the young Welsh Guard, Mark Evison?

https://www.londonremembers.com/memorials/mark-evison

Are there plans to reinstate the memorial and perhaps plant another tree?

[rch]

Ah, thanks for letting us know, I've been keeping my eye on it but haven't been down there today... there has been a series of discussions about this over the months.

The tree and the memorial are separate, albeit interacting (as we try to do whenever possible). I had a Foxglove tree planted there a few years ago as an experiment to replace the previous dead tree when I was a councillor and then the Dulwich Society applied for a CGS bid for the bench and plaque, so it all fit together (FYI, Conways implemented the granite setts around the tree and bench for free to make the area more useable and visually enhanced).

Just as the Foxglove was really beginning to look amazing over the past couple of years (the purple blossoms are spectacular, hence our decision to plant one in this prime location), the tree suddenly died at the beginning of last spring. We think the road junction works in the Village and the subsequent salting of the pavements during the snow was too much for the fragile tree to cope with.

After we gave the tree a chance to see if it would re-establish over the summer, the council's tree officer agreed to replant another Foxglove in the spring of 2019. But the shopkeepers campaigned in discussions with the Dulwich Estate to have a large specimen spruce Christmas tree planted there which would still have the bench and plaque set up around it, but could be decorated at Christmas to give the area around the parade character.

But after objections from other residents, the Dulwich Estate cancelled the spruce due to the memorial bench (which I don't think they realised would be reinstated), so I arranged a meeting last week between the shopkeepers and the council tree officer, as technically this is Southwark Council's land and the Estate don't have the final say.

But, after a technical discussion on site, the traders agreed to keep with a new Foxglove to be planted in the spring... but it transpired that there was going to be a Christmas event in this location on Dec 2nd, which was just before the tree was meant to be cut down, and they wanted to put lights in the tree for Christmas.

So the tree officer agreed to have the tree cut down at the end of November, but it sounds like the council felling team had a slot today...? The idea is that the traders will insert a live Christmas tree into the trunk of the felled tree trunk and decorate that in order to circumvent council contractor time constraints.

FYI, the bench was removed some time ago in preparation for the felling and will be reinstated after the new tree is planted, but synchronising everything is difficult due to council contractor schedules.

BTW, I had another Foxglove planted on the grass verge next to Gail's to visually bookend that section of the Village where the dead Foxglove will be replanted, so that there will be continuity to the landscaping.

This is probably more information than you wanted to know... but there's quite a complex planting scheme that has been developed in the Village and East Dulwich over the past decade (starting with the avenue of plane trees in Lordship Lane), some of which have been noted in books and magazines as this makes Dulwich unique. I have been liaising with local councillors over the years so that they are aware of the bigger picture and post on this forum when I have time, and have set up a group of residents to help me water the new specimens during the droughts... you can often see me walking around with my Red Bucket.