Review: Heritage Trees Wales by Archie Miles

Jane MacNamee

I have walked beneath the beeches along Plas Avenue in my hometown many times, but today their magnificent grace stopped me in my tracks.

I attribute this to Archie Miles’ beautifully presented book, which I have just read.

Whilst the book focuses on the extraordinary, the rare, the outlandish and the ancient which earn them ‘heritage’ status, it also inspires the reader to look with fresh eyes at the trees so familiar to us, often overlooked, and to regard them with the equal awe and respect they deserve.

‘Markers of time’

So, what makes each of the 74 examples, selected here throughout Wales, a ‘heritage’ tree?

In her foreword, Pauline Buchanan Black, Director-General of the Tree Council, writes that as ‘Markers of time, guardians of biodiversity, subjects of folklore and repositories of history; the trees in this book have a place in the heritage of Wales comparable to its great eisteddfodau, towering fortifications and mines from which were brought forth gold, slate and coal,’ and thus should be recognised, appreciated and protected as ‘Green Monuments’ in their own right.

In his introduction, the author explains that in a world in which the word ‘heritage’ has been over-exploited, it is important to understand just how ‘vital a part of our historical, social and natural culture’ these heritage trees are.

They are all unique ‘characters’, and there is, inevitably, an element of subjectivity in those selected here.

Cast of characters

And what a rich and intriguing cast of characters we are introduced to: the mysterious ‘bleeding yew’ at Nevern; the tale of the concealed body in the Nannau Oak; the weird birches of Ty-uchaf; the orchards of Monmouthshire; the largest elm in Wales at Llangorse; the remarkable Aberglasney yew tunnel; Ramsey Island’s Junipers; the glorious Laburnum hedges in Ceredigion; the petrified forest at Borth and the prostrate blackthorn with its ‘rampant suckering’ at Aberystwyth’s Tan-y-bwlch beach, to name but a few.

Immense girths of ancient gnarled trunks, trees clinging impossibly to cliff faces, exotics, carefully planned arboretums and formal gardens, all find a place together here.

And, all of them call for the recognition to be preserved, which the Tree Council and its member organisations are hoping to achieve through their ‘Green Monument Campaign’.

The photographs are exquisite and the text is lively, insightful and well-researched.

This is a book to treasure and it is also a passionate invitation to the reader to be an active participant in the protection of this heritage.

Heritage Trees Wales is an amazing journey around the nation’s oldest and most remarkable trees.

Steeped in history, surrounded by myth and legend and with cultural significance, all these trees are of immeasurable importance to the landscape of Wales.

Heritage Trees Wales is published by Graffeg on 27 March and can be purchased here

This review was first published on www.gwales.com and is republished with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.