Future of Ely's ancient plane tree boosted by £121k grant
One of the country's largest and oldest London plane trees will be supported with a technique not previously believed to have been used in the UK. It was thought the tree had been given to the Bishop of Ely for his palace garden, which is now part of King's private school, in the Cambridgeshire cathedral city, by Charles II in the 1670s.Chair of school governors David Day said Italian experts will use morphophysiology, to "understand how to care and protect the tree going into the future".Funded by a £121,000 National Lottery Heritage grant, the project will also increase public accessibility to the tree "with garden opening days throughout the year", he said.
Mr Day said morphophysiology "applies in particular to heritage and veteran trees".This is the study of tree shape and structure in relation to function to achieve the goal of sustaining life, according to The Arboricultural Association."It's the first time this method is being used in the UK, primarily led by an Italian team," he said. "One of the reasons the National Lottery Heritage provided the grant is because it its pioneering work and it will help to conserve other heritage trees throughout the UK in the future."Cable bracing installed in the tree in the 1940s and 1980s needs to be replaced. The survey will help inform how best to do that.
Engineers from the University of Cambridge have also got involved, in another innovation claimed to be a first. Dr James Talbot, an associate professor at its engineering department, said: "We're trying to create a theoretical model of the tree to understand the design of the mitigation that's been proposed - the cabling arrangements."To do so, a laser scanner scanned the geometry of the tree.This will be converted into a structural model to help predict the motion of the wind on the tree, as well as its own natural movement, he said.
Engineers are more used to working with seasoned timber than living wood - if they work with wood at all, Dr Talbot added.About 30 King's Ely students have been finding out about the project as part of the school's science week.Work will begin in July and last four years.
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