William Blake Oak tree planted 2011?: new tree found

[fleur]

'In 1765, at age eight, William Blake had his first vision of angels while walking on Peckham Rye, a park in Greater London. Blake later described his vision as "a tree filled with angels, bright angelic wings bespangling every bough like stars."

In 2011, an oak tree was planted on Peckham Rye to commemorate the event. Does anyone know if it has survived the festivals?

(Map co-ordinates for the tree are 51.455867, -0.063448)I remember it being planted but has anyone seen it recently?

[heartblock]

I would very much hope it has survived - as I like both oak trees and William Blake.

[fleur]

heartblock Wrote:

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> I would very much hope it has survived - as I like

> both oak trees and William Blake.

I went to the area I remember seeing it but not sure its the same tree. This is the young oak i saw today.

[kiera]

I too would like to know whether the William Blake oak planted in 2011 survived the festivals - I have looked for it several times without success. Does anyone know?

The tree in your photograph must be one which has been planted more recently, as a tree planted in 2011 would not still have a guard and a watering bag.

[fleur]

I'm sure the original tree planted 10years ago was bit further down. The Tree Officer may know. I was trying to be positive! & of course this young oak tree needs extra protection. I will post if I hear more...

[Nigello]

Try [email protected] . Mr Erasmus is the boss there, I think. He coudl give an answer.

[fleur]

Thank you Nigello

I have received this reply back :

"The tree originally planted in what you described as the empty staked area did not survive very long. The local residents that planted it took the dead tree to use in an art project linked to William Blake.

A small shoot from the root stock of the dead tree started to grow. Unfortunately this tree died recently and the oak in your picture was bought to replace it.

When we came to plant this new tree in the original location we again found a small oak tree growing from the root stock of the original tree. We put a cage around that to protect it and planted the new oak a little further away to allow both enough space to grow.

Unfortunately we could not locate contact details of the original tree requestors to give them an update on the situation."

So that's the update. If anyone wishes to mark the occasion next year then we can gather around this young tree!

[JohnL]

Trees grow so slowly - I planted a horse chestnut with my father in 1975 - he died in 1979 and the Horse Chestnut is still a young tree - it was no more than a sapling for 20 years.

[KidKruger]

Nice thing to have done, John.